Ladybug and Chat Noir a love story
by authorgirl01
Summary: Marinette finds herself in mortal danger when a new enemy wants her dead but luckily she knows just the hero to help. Chat Noir has been in love with Ladybug for over two years but when circumstances lead him to an intimate moment with Marinette and he discovers feelings he didn't know were there, he must find a way to win his princess over but love turns out to be deadly.
1. Chapter 1

Ladybug held onto the iron girder of the Eiffel tower and felt her grip weaken, her arm began to shake with the strain and try as she might she couldn't raise her body enough to hook her legs over the ledge, her energy was spent. She looked down to the street to where her yoyo had fallen and felt her breath hitch in her throat, she couldn't hold on anymore. Her fingers began to slip and she let out a yelp as she felt herself begin to plummet toward the Paris cobbles below.

"Look out!" she heard as something slammed into her body, sending her flying sideways and felt her back hitting the Eiffel tower hard. She looked up into the brilliantly green eyes on Chat Noir who smiled back at her.

"Nice of you to drop in", she panted,

"I always knew you'd fall for me one day", he replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Sorry Kitty, you'll have to move faster than that to catch this bug", she smiled.

Suddenly there was a scream from down below as the Akumatized school janitor used his weaponized mop to stick another child to the ground with bright pink bubble gum.

"I need my yoyo", Said Ladybug, Chat nodded and extended his stick which lengthened to the ground.

"Going down", said Chat, taking Ladybug around the waist and dropping through the air as the stick began to shrink back to normal size.

Ladybug ran and snatched up her yoyo before using it to swing across to where the Janitor was terrorizing his victims.

"Chewing gum and wrappers everywhere, all for me to clean, well clean this!" Roared the Janitor, sticking three kids to a wall simultaneously.

"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Called Lady bug, using her yoyo to knock his mop from his hands but as she swung toward him to snatch it away the Janitor rolled across the floor and managed to grab it just in time to stick Lady bug to a lamp post.

She wriggled desperately but she was stuck fast, at that moment Chat, leaping to avoid a chewing gum attack of his own, landed beside her and flashed his teeth with a debonair smile.

"What a sticky situation, my lady", he grinned,

"Enough with the one liner's Chat, can you get me out of this?" Ladybug sighed,

"CATACLYSM!" Chat called on his special power causing his hand to become shrouded by black, shifting bubbles that popped and a reappeared at will. He pressed his hand against the pink barrier that turned to brown rust and disintegrated into powder.

"Good work, Kitty cat", replied Marinette, before swinging her arm over her head and extending her yoyo high into the air.

"LUCKY CHARM!" She cried, her yoyo became engulfed in ladybirds, scattering outward until they dissipated, leaving a cork suspended above her which fell into Marinette's outheld hand.

"A cork?" She puzzled,

"Let's hope you're able to put a stopper in the situation", joked Chat.

Ladybug shook her head then looked around for a way to use her Luckycharm against the Janitor.

"Think, Ladybug", she said to herself, suddenly she saw the pattern, Chat Noir's stick, the awning over the bakers across the road, the Janitor's weaponized mop with the opening in the end where the bubble gum was being fired from.

"Chat, cover me!" She shouted, Chat nodded and as Ladybug ran toward the shop behind the Janitor, Chat span his stick, deflecting the chewing gum as it shot toward them. Ladybug threw the cork, hard, it spun through the air, hit the awning and ricochet back toward the Janitor, perfectly connecting with the end of the mop, blocking its powers.

"Time to take a trip", said Ladybug, using her yoyo to entangle the Janitors legs and sending him flying onto his back, his mop flew from his hands and was swiftly deflected by Chat Noir and caught by Ladybug who snapped its stem over her knee, releasing the Akuma within.

"No more evil doing for you little Akuma", she smiled as she swiped a finger down her yoyo which opened like the wings of a lady bird with a glowing, white light within. She swung the yoyo around, leaving a trail of light and as she shouted, "time to de-evil-ise!" the yoyo extended, coming into contact with the Akuma and trapping it inside.

"Gotcha!" She said triumphantly as she caught the yoyo again in her hand and pressing it's surface it opened once more to release the now, white Akuma, cleansed of its evil potential.

"Bye, bye, little butterfly", she waved as it fluttered away and the Janitor was transformed back into his original state in a wave of black and purple cloud.

"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" Marinette threw the cork into the air, creating another burst of magical Ladybirds that fluttered away, spreading their cleansing power through the city, stripping the streets of indestructible chewing gum and releasing the children.

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir said simultaneously, bumping fists together in celebration.

"What am I doing here?" Asked the Janitor, pulling himself to his feet in a confused way.

"You got sick of the kids at the school sticking gum all over the place and when a certain student laughed at you and threw gum into your hair you let your anger get the better of you", explained Ladybug.

"Yep, you got Akumatised, but we saved you", added Chat, putting his arm around Ladybug's shoulders. She gave him a stern look and he pulled it back and rubbed the back his neck, grinning apologetically.

"Oh dear, I hope no one was injured!" Said the school janitor,

"It's okay sir, you weren't yourself, everything's fine now", smiled Marinette.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir!" came the calls of the reporters, "Is the city safe again? Where are the Akuma's coming from?"

"Now, now", said Chat Noir, stepping forward, "the situation is totally over for now and you can always rely on me and Ladybug to keep the streets safe", he gave Ladybug a 'thumbs up' and she nodded back, just then Chat's ring began to beep.

"Time for this cat to pounce", he extended his pole and leap onto a nearby building, disappearing over the roof tops.

"So long!" Called Ladybug as she flicked her wrist and her yoyo connected with a nearby lamp post and she swung herself gracefully in another direction, too seeming to be gone without a trace.

"Oh, em, gee, girl! Did you see Ladybug in action yesterday?" Said Alya, flipping excitedly through her phone.

"Oh, erm… yeah, on the news, I was revising for the test on Friday", lied Marinette, smiling awkwardly at her best friend.

"It was totally, freaking, awesome!" Alya cried, showing her phone to Marinette where Ladybug was seen pinned to the Eiffel Tower by Chat Noir, "they look pretty close", Alya winked.

"Chat Noir and Ladybug?" Laughed Marinette, "I imagine when you're fighting crime you don't have a lot of time to think about personal boundaries".

"Whatever, girl, I know the look of love when I see it", said Alya, zooming in on Chat's flirtatious smile but when she turned to show Marinette, she was leaning on the wall of the school steps, staring dreamily at the blonde haired, green eyed boy that had just stepped out of his limousine.

"But I suppose I don't need to tell you about the look of love", sighed Alya, "When are you going to tell Adrien you're in love with him?"

Marinette leapt and threw her hand over her friend's mouth, her eyes wide with fear,

"Not so loud, Alya!" She begged.

"Okay, sorry!" Said Alya, pushing Marinette's hand away, "you should talk to him Marinette, he's just a boy",

"The perfect boy", sighed Marinette with a hint of sadness in her voice.

The school bell rang and all the students, including Adrien, began heading up the steps toward class, Marinette still blushing at the sight of him.

Once in the classroom Marinette took her seat and continued to stare lovingly at the back of his head before the silence was broken by the sound of Chloe Bourgeoise.

"I'm so sick of this stupid school and its total low standards, I can't believe they'd give me an F! Me! I'm the only thing that makes this dump worth coming to, well, me and Adrikins of course", she said, waving at Adrien who gave a half-hearted, uncomfortable looking wave back.

Chloe smiled and removed her chewing gum from her mouth, sticking it under the desk.

"Chloe, what is wrong with you? You just got the school janitor Akumatised yesterday by flicking your gum in his hair when he asked you to stop sticking it under your desk, do you never learn?" Scolded Alya,

"As if! It wasn't my fault, that janitor was unstable to begin with, I've already told my daddy he should be fired!"

"What a bitch!" Whispered Alya, Marinette placed a hand on Alya's arm and squeezed in a comforting way, giving her a look that said, "I know, but don't rise to it".

At the end of class Chloe was still talking about herself and Alya looked ready to pop,

"Are you coming, Alya?" asked Marinette, heading for the door,

"Yeah, just a second, I'll meet you outside", said Alya, still putting her books into her bag.

Marinette headed out with her other class mates and Alya finished packing away her things.

"I told my daddy, my party had better be the best thing Paris has ever seen", continued Chloe to her friend Sabrina Raincomprix, "I made him buy me this diamond necklace so I'd really stand out and you just know I'll be the bell of the ball, especially with my sweet Adrikins on my arm", she took a hold of the golden chain around her neck and held it out for Sabrina to admire the diamond heart suspended there.

Alya snorted derisively as she walked past Chloe, toward the door.

"And what was that supposed to mean?" Demanded Chloe, snapping her head around to stare distastefully at Alya,

"It means you're crazy, girl, if you think Adrien is even slightly interested in you", smirked Alya, "He only puts up with you because, unlike you, he's actually nice".

"Oh, look, Sabrina, someone's jealous, got a little crush on my boyfriend, do you?" Asked Chloe, folding her arms smugly.

"Boyfriend? You do know for him to be your boyfriend he has to actually agree?" Laughed Alya, "Any way, there's no point in you even trying with Adrien because word on the grape vine is he has a thing for Marinette", lied Alya, turning to leave.

"That's a lie!" Cried Chloe, "He wouldn't look at that fashion disaster if you paid him!"

"Well I heard they already went on a date", continued Alya, enjoying the look of fury on Chloe's face.

"They did not!" Roared Chloe,

"I heard", continued Alya, the fun of upsetting Chloe filling her with satisfaction, "that they kissed",

With that Chloe's face turned purple with rage and Alya left the room, laughing wickedly.

"It's okay Chloe, Alya's just trying to upset you", soothed Sabrina,

"Shut up!" Roared Chloe, causing Sabrina to grab her books and flee.

In a dark attic, a tall, masked figure stood alone, surrounded by brilliant, white, butterflies. In front of him a circular window appears, growing larger until he and his butterflies are bathed in light.

"Ahhh, yes", he said with a smile, "Such anger, such resentment, such delicious jealousy, perfect prey for my little Akuma's", the man's voice was rasping and cruel, he extended a hand for one of the butterflies to land delicately on his palm. He placed his other hand over the top of it, gently so as not to cause any harm and watched as a black and purple cloud engulfed the creature within his grasp. When he opened his hands again, the butterfly had turned black with purple cracks streaking it's wings here and there.

"Fly away my dark Akuma and Evil-ise her!" He commanded, the butterfly flapped its sable wings and headed out of the window and across Paris.

"That horrible, common Marinette Dupain-Cheng! How dare she lay her hands on my Adrien?" Chloe fumed, her hands clenched into fists at her side.

Suddenly the Akuma came fluttering into the room toward Chloe but she was so busy concentrating on her rage that she didn't notice it make contact with her diamond necklace.

The butterfly fused with the necklace, disappearing as the jewel began to glow a dark purple, simultaneously a pink colour appeared around Chloe's eyes and a butterfly shaped light outlined them as the voice of Hawkmoth, the Akuma master, spoke.

"Breathless-Beauty", rasped Hawkmoth, "I am Hawkmoth, I can give you the power to take anyone's breath away with just a kiss and you can start with the girl who tried to steal your beloved, but you must agree to help me claim Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses!"

"Yes Hawkmoth", agreed Chloe, grinning wickedly as black and purple smoke spread across her body, transforming her. She wore a black, elegant gown with a black and purple tiara, purple lipstick and long purple nails. Her hair was purple and white striped and on her feet she wore tall, black heels.

"I'm coming for you, Marinette".

"What took you so long?" Asked Marinette as Alya came toward her down the school steps,

"Oh, I was just winding up Chloe", smiled Alya, joining her friends side, Marinette frowned.

"That never ends well, Alya, I hope you didn't upset her too much",

"Who cares?" Smiled Alya, "She's always upsetting everyone else, anyway, there's no time to talk to me, look who's waving at you!"

Marinette looked up to see Adrien and his best friend Nino standing side by side, Adrien was waving at them jovially, trying to get their attention.

"Oh my god! What do I do?" Panicked Marinette,

"Erm, talk!" Laughed Alya, pushing Marinette forward who hadn't seen Adrien was already running toward them and she fell clumsily into his open arms.

"Careful!" Called out Adrien, pulling her close so she didn't hit the floor,

"ADRIEN!" She shrieked, pulling back in such shock that she fell out of his arms and onto the floor.

"Oh… sorry", he said, holding out his hand to help her to her feet.

Slowly Marinette took his hand, she allowed him to help her up and then just smiled, dumbstruck, unable to think of a single thing to do or say.

"Can I have my hand back?" Asked Adrien,

"Oh, yes, sorry!" She released his hand like it was on fire then grinned maniacally at him before Alya stepped in.

"What's up?"

"Oh, me and Nino were thinking of going to get a coffee, seeing as today is one of the few days I don't have any modelling assignments, Nino was going to invite you and I thought Marinette might like to come?" Adrien explained.

"You hear that, Marinette? Adrien's inviting you out for coffee", beamed Alya, "What do you say to that?"

"I say… I say… I say", stuttered Marinette,

"She says she's otherwise engaged!" Came the echoing, cold voice of Breathless Beauty.

The friend group looked up to see, hovering above them, an Akumatised Chloe Bourgeoise, staring down with malice in her eyes.

"Jeez!" Cried Nino, "What's with the goth princess?"

"I am Breathless Beauty and I'm here for Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

"Quick Marinette!" Called out Adrien, but before Marinette could argue he had a hold of her wrist and was pulling her along toward the waiting limousine. He threw her inside, jumped in beside her and slammed the door before shouting, "drive!"

The limo set off at high speed, Adrien turned to see if he could spot Breathless-Beauty from the rear window but she seemed to have disappeared.

"I think I should get out here", said Marinette, all she could think about was getting away so she could transform but the car was going too fast.

"Sorry Marinette but as long as she's after you, you're not safe and the further we get you away from our friends, the safer they are, I'll take you to my house to hide out", replied Adrien.

"Oh… thankyou… but I don't want to put you in any danger, I should really go", she tried,

"I think we should just lay low and let Ladybug and Chat Noir handle this", he said, taking a hold of her hands that she was trying the door with. She froze and stared into his eyes, Adrien stared back and thought about how he'd never noticed how pretty she was, he almost came out with a cheesy one liner before remembering he wasn't Chat Noir right now, he was Adrien Agreste and he had to act like it.

"What if… Ladybug's busy?" Said Marinette lamely,

"Don't worry Marinette, Ladybug always turns up and saves the day", he answered, Marinette smiled in a worried sort of way, when the limousine came to a halt.

"We're here, let's get inside!" Adrien ordered, throwing open the door and pulling out Marinette behind him, he needed to put her somewhere safe so he could get away and transform but he didn't dare leave her alone until she was inside.

"Going somewhere?" came a voice from above, Adrien and Marinette looked up at the hovering villain who looked down to see the pair holding hands and gasped then scowled angrily and shot hearts from her hands that Adrien managed to dodge, yanking Marinette inside behind him. His driver, however, was not so lucky and as the hearts landed upon him he turned to Chloe and smiled sweetly.

"So beautiful!" He cooed,

"Get them!" Ordered Chloe, the driver nodded and turned to the door to discover it had been locked and started pounding on it furiously.

Inside Marinette stared at the banging door in shock and looked at Adrien, how was she going to get him away for long enough to turn into Ladybug? She tried to rack her brain but she was so distracted by the fact he was still holding her hand all she could do was picture him pulling her in close and kissing her.

"Stop it!" She scolded herself,

"What?" Asked Adrien, looking confused,

"Erm… we need to find a way to stop it", Marinette replied,

"I think for now we need to find a place for you to hide!" Adrien said, pulling her up the impressive, white stair case of his mansion home and into what Marinette recognised as his bedroom from her previous appearances here as Ladybug in other Akuma situations.

"Are you kids okay?" Came a voice, it was Nathalie, Adrien's, father's assistant, she stepped inside looking concerned.

"There's an Akumatised student out there trying to hurt my friend", explained Adrien, "Could you stay here with her?

"Where are you going?" Asked Marinette with a concerned voice,

"Don't worry, I'm just going to activate the security system, it won't take a second", smiled Adrien, "you'll be safe in here".

"If you're going out there I'm going with you", she said stubbornly, tightening her grip on his hand,

"I promise you, you won't get hurt Marinette", he soothed,

"I'm worried you'll be the one to get hurt trying to save me!" She replied, "I can't let anything happen to you", the words were out before she could stop them, Adrien looked at her shocked but it softened into a friendly smile, he quite liked the idea that Marinette cared about him.

"You're quite brave aren't you?" He asked,

"Sorry, I just-"

"Don't apologise, I like it", he replied, Marinette turned scarlet and Adrien broke his grip on her and ran out of the room, Marinette looked after him, panic on her face but he was gone before she could react and Nathalie had already run to her side to hold her back.

"Don't worry", said Nathalie kindly, "it's you the Akumatised student is after, he'll be okay",

Marinette felt helpless, she couldn't transform in front of Nathalie and she couldn't keep her Adrien safe either, her mind started running riot with thoughts of him becoming caught or injured by Breathless Beauty and panic washed over her, she had to find a way to transform.

Out in the hall way Adrien looked around to ensure no one could see him, feeling satisfied that the coast was clear and he was away from any of the security cameras, he smiled to himself and said,

"Claws out!"

In a whoosh the small, black cat that was his Kwami, went flying from his bag into his white ring, turning it black. Almost simultaneously, a black, leather suit and a pair of pointed, black cat's ears appeared on his body, transforming him into the dark hero, Chat Noir.

He flexed his clawed fingers and gave the golden bell around his neck a little flick before turning and bounding back down the stairs to look for their newest villain and hopefully, to see his beautiful Ladybug. There was a guilty part of him that almost looked forward to the attacks on Paris because he knew he could spend time with his love, even if he didn't know who she was and even if she didn't know she was his love.

"Nathalie", said Marinette, "I just need to use the bathroom", she started toward the ensuite bathroom, ready to change and help Chat Noir defeat their latest foe, before Nathalie said,

"I'm afraid you're going to have to hold it, there's a plumber coming to fix that toilet today, it's broken",

"Erm… then I'd better head out and find a working one", tried Marinette, heading for the door.

"You will stay here!" Commanded Nathalie, stepping in front of Marinette, taking her by the shoulders and walking her over to the sofa where she was forced to take a seat. "Where I can see you".

"That's the one thing I need you not to do", Marinette mumbled to herself.

Just then there was a rumble and the window of Adrien's room exploded inward, Nathalie screamed and Marinette jumped in front of her, covering the pair of them from the shards.

A hoard of love struck people began piling into the room, they'd created a human pyramid outside the window and had hammered their way through as Breathless-Beauty came floating in behind them, a victorious smile on her face.

"Come to me my little Marinette!" She ordered,

The hoard grabbed Marinette, pulling her across the room, Marinette tried to pull away but they had her pinned on the ground before Chloe, who floated down gleefully.

"Hold her head!" She commanded, her admirers pulled Marinette's hair back, forcing her to look up, she scowled at Chloe who leaned forward and placed a gentle peck on Marinette's lips.

At first Marinette just stared, confused before she felt her mouth go dry, her throat went tight and she couldn't take a single breath. She wheezed and choked, desperately trying to get air into her lungs but it was no good, Chloe laughed mercilessly as Marinette's face turned blue and she fell, still and lifeless onto Adrien's bedroom floor.

"And that takes care of her! Now to find my prince charming", said Breathless-Beauty", hovering out of the room, followed by her hoard.

Nathalie threw herself onto the floor and turned Marinette onto her back,

"Oh god, no!" She cried, placing her ear to Marinette's mouth to try and hear her breath. She began CPR but Marinette lay still, her unseeing eyes wide and staring.

"What happened?" Cried Chat, Nathalie span around to see Chat standing over them, a look of horror on his face.

"They came in through the window", cried Nathalie, I don't know what to do, she won't wake!"

"Go call an ambulance!" Shouted Chat, Nathalie ran out of the room while Chat Noir kneeled beside Marinette's body, tears sprung in his eyes.

"I promised you'd be safe", he whispered, putting his arms around her and holding her to his chest. Where was his Ladybug? He couldn't do this without her, how could she still not be here?

He looked down and racked his brains for something to do, some way to fix things.

"I can't end the spell without my Lady", he said but then his eyes opened wide, he remembered Lady bug telling him, when he was infected by an Akumatised villain she had to break the spell by kissing him, love conquers all. He looked down at Marinette, could she be like sleeping beauty or snow white, in a death-like sleep?

"Here goes", he said, bowing his head and pressing his lips against hers.

At first, he just waited then suddenly he heard a small gasp, her lips became warm and softer and she let out a sigh. He felt a hand touch the side of his face and the kiss pressed back against him, he instinctively parted his lips slightly and felt her do the same, their kiss deepening as he tightened his grip around her. As her arms came up further around his neck he felt her press her body to him and moan a little which caused him to moan back in reciprocation, their peck now a passionate and desperate kiss, her finger nails digging into him and he felt his nerves sparking and tingling with excitement, he felt hungry for her, needed her!

Suddenly they broke apart, both of them breathless, wide eyed, staring at one another in utter shock, what had come over them? Chat had no idea why he'd kissed her like that, he knew Marinette was pretty but he'd never thought of her like that, the only person he'd ever thought of like that was his Ladybug but now as he looked down into her beautiful eyes, his lips still tingling from their kiss, he felt like he wanted to do it again.

Marinette stared helplessly at Chat, what was she doing? Why had she kissed him? She'd woken from whatever Chloe had done to her and she'd felt him there or at least she'd felt someone there and as she'd flickered her eyes and seen the outline of Chat Noir and his pointed ears and realised it was him kissing her, for some reason she'd been overcome with relief, excitement, she'd thought she was dead and then there he was, always there to save her, his safe arms around her, kissing her. She'd needed him, wanted to never stop kissing him and then… reality hit… and she'd pulled away… but to her utter confusion, the feeling hadn't gone, even now she was fully awake and aware, she wanted him to kiss her again… she blinked and gasped as she realised… she wanted Chat Noir!

"I'm… I'm… Oh god!" She cried, leaping from his arms and fleeing for the bathroom, slamming the door closed and locking it behind her.

"Marinette!" Cried Chat, running after her and trying the door then defeatedly banging his fist against it.

What had he been thinking? Sure, it had worked but to keep kissing her like that, without her permission, what was wrong with him? And now she was scared and locked on a bathroom like he was some kind of crazed sex criminal.

"Marinette, I'm so sorry, please come out!" He called through the door, "I promise I won't touch you".

Marinette was hyperventilating in the bathroom, what was she going to do?

"Marinette, calm down!" Came a small voice, Marinette looked down to see Tiki, her Kwami, staring up at her with concerned eyes.

"I don't think I can!" Whispered Marinette, "I… I don't know how to feel!"

"Marinette, I understand, you're shocked and upset but right now you've got an Akuma to catch and Chat Noir doesn't know your Ladybug".

Marinette nodded, pulling her wits together and with a stern expression said, "Tiki, spots on!"

The Little, red Kwami fused with Marinette's earrings, creating the magic that transformed Marinette into the heroine, Ladybug.

"Marinette, please, I'm so sorry!" Came the voice of Chat Noir again,

"I'm okay, I just need to be alone!" She called back before opening the bathroom window and using her yoyo to go swinging outside.

Chat was still leaning against the door when Ladybug appeared at the bedroom window beside him, he looked so worried and Marinette felt a pang of guilt at letting him believe she was still hiding from him inside.

"Good evening Chaton", she said, leaning on the window frame, Chat's head spun around to see his Ladybug standing there, watching him curiously with large, blue eyes.

"Ladybug!" He said in surprise, "you're a little late to the show, aren't you?"

"Sorry Kittycat, I had some other super hero business to attend to, but I'm here now, let's get going",

"I… erm… there's a civilian, still in this bathroom", he pointed to the door, looking guilty.

"Well… she'll be safe in there for now, let's get the Akuma and come back for her at the end, okay?" Suggested Ladybug, hoping he'd agree,

"…Okay", Chat replied reluctantly.

They had found Breathless Beauty outside, still looking for Adrien with her adoring fans trailing after her, looking up in wonderment. After a heated battle Marinette had managed to use her yoyo to tie Breathless to a tree while Chat had swiped her necklace, throwing it to Ladybug to smash beneath her feet.

Once the world had been restored Ladybug disappeared with barely a word, knowing she had to leave via Adrien's bathroom so she could unlock the door. She managed to slip outside undetected but saw Chat Noir seemed to be headed for the bathroom too and had to duck behind a statue in the hallway to avoid him.

Adrien didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Ladybug before she was off again, he wondered what superhero business she could possibly have that didn't involve him, though he didn't have time to worry about that. Usually Ladybug was the only thing on his mind but right now all he could think about was kissing Marinette, scaring Marinette, being guilty and sorry and having to make sure she was okay but also being guilty because he so desperately wanted to do it again.

He stepped into his bedroom and headed for the bathroom door only to see it hanging open and Marinette was nowhere to be found, she'd gone, and he didn't know why but he knew he had to see her, explain himself. It suddenly felt very important indeed that Marinette was not upset with him, that she liked him, the only consolation was that she'd seemed to care about his other self as Adrien Agreste.

He decided the best thing to do was to go and see her, right now, before things were left too long and they got awkward. Steeling his resolve to his decision he turned and leapt from his bedroom window, swinging away, across the town and toward the balcony of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

He didn't live that far away and found himself at her home in no time, the balcony door was unlocked but he paused and knocked, afraid to frighten her again. There was no response so he tried again then decided she must be out somewhere.

"That's fine", he told himself, "I can just wait, it's totally fine… I can wait inside and when she gets back I'll tell her it was all a mistake and I got caught up in the moment and that I'd never hurt her because she's beautiful- well not because she's beautiful, but she is beautiful, but that's not why I wouldn't hurt her, I wouldn't hurt her because I'm a good guy and I'd never hurt anyone… damn… this is going to be difficult", he put his head in his hands and groaned before pushing open the balcony door and stepping inside.

"I'll just say _, hey, sorry I kissed you, you were under a spell_ , that's the truth after all", he rubbed the back of his neck like he always did if he was nervous or stressed, how was he going to make this right?

Just then he heard the noise of someone coming up the stairs and panic hit him.

What was he thinking? She'd come home after being kissed against her will by Chat Noir and then he appeared in her bedroom, uninvited, probably to attack her again! This was a terrible idea, he had to get out! But as the trap door opened and Chat realised he was out of time, he leapt into the cupboard, closing the door behind him, just as Marinette came into view.

Marinette had run home, she hadn't been able to move as fast as she could when she was Ladybug, leaping from roof top to roof top but she didn't live that far and she was happy to be in the privacy of her own bedroom again.

She'd felt so overcome when she'd kissed Chat, it was like, without knowing it, she'd been waiting for that moment, electric, destined, perfect… just how she'd always imagined it would feel to kiss Adrien…

"Oh Adrien", she said to herself, feeling suddenly guilty, not that she had any reason to feel guilty… after all, it's not like he thought of her in that way.

Chat's ears pricked up, he'd planned to wait in silence and do his best not to look or listen until Marinette left the room and then leave, unseen, but the sound of his name caught his attention and he turned to look through the slatted panels of the wardrobe door. He could see Marinette, her face on her desk, her arms over her head, she looked sad which made him feel worse.

"Why did I kiss Chat?" She asked herself out loud, "Why did I… not stop?"

Chat leaned in a little closer, his heart beating faster, she kissed him? But he thought she'd perhaps been dazed and hadn't realized, that she'd kissed back out of confusion… had she kissed him because she'd wanted to kiss him?

Marinette thought about talking to Tiki but she was downstairs in the bakery, stuffing cookies into her mouth while Marinette's parents were out.

She rose from her chair and walked over to her bed, throwing herself backwards and sighing, she thought about Chat's bright, green eyes, sparkling back at her when she'd looked up at him, she thought about the feel of his soft blonde hair and his gloved hands as they slid over her shoulders and around her waist, pulling her in tight and kissing her in that… needful way. The memory sent sparks through her body and made her tingle with yearning, yearning that she could not beat back down. She wanted him to kiss her again, she wanted him to do whatever would have come next if they'd been alone and she hadn't run away.

She felt the torn strap of her top and sat up to pull it over her head, throwing it onto the ground and then her jeans which had been torn at the knee.

Adrien gulped and had to try harder to keep his breathing quiet as he watched Marinette begin to remove her clothes, she lay back down on her bed and seemed to be thinking but then started stroking her neck and thigh, breathing a little more raggedly than before.

Marinette felt the touch of her skin and wondered how it would feel to have Chat's hands on her body, would it be similar to her own? What would it be like to have him hold her again now, when she was lying here with next to nothing on?

Adrien tried to pull his eyes away, this was wrong, the only thing on her body was a pair of red, cotton panty's and he knew he shouldn't look at her exposed body but she was so perfect, so beautiful. Slowly he saw her hand stroking back up her thigh and across her stomach and then down again, disappearing into her underwear, her other hand moving down to her breast and her thumb starting to move backwards and forwards over her nipple.

"Oh Chat", she moaned softly,

At that moment Chat panicked and burst from the cupboard, Marinette Screamed and fell off her bed and then leapt to her feet again as Chat spoke.

"Nope, no, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry", he said, holding his hands in front of him to block his view and turning his head, "I came in to apologize, about what happened before but I panicked that you wouldn't want me in your room so I hid and now… oh god, I'm so sorry!"

"You're in my room!" Screamed Marinette, snatching up her torn shirt to cover her chest and tripping slightly, falling into Chat, who was still looking away and was knocked to the floor with Marinette on top of him.

The pair stared at each other, mortified, Marinette's breasts only hidden because they were pushed up against Chat's chest, her leg's either side of him, their faces only centimetres apart.

"You said my name", Chat suddenly said, surprising himself,

"…No… no I didn't", lied Marinette, turning bright pink all over,

"Yes, you did", he said again, a small smile starting to spread across his face, "You're not mad at me",

"Mad at you?" Asked Marinette, confused.

"You said my name", he said again, his smile suddenly turning lustful, Marinette pulled herself up, putting and arm across her chest but Chat moved upward to, following her, practically nose to nose until he was sat with his legs out and his back straight while she sat on his lap, straddling him.

Very slowly and tentatively Chat moved his hand toward Marinette's face, pausing beside her cheek like he were afraid she might shatter. Finally, he placed it there, and for some reason Marinette could not place, it caused her to gasp a little, the mere presence of his touch making her skin prickle with excitement.

Chat leaned forward, he let his lips brush against Marinette's, yearning to kiss her deeply, like before, but still afraid of doing something she didn't want.

Marinette could feel his breath on her lips and involuntarily moved her hips forward making her eyes go wide as she felt Chat had gone hard beneath her. The urgent need she'd had for him before suddenly exploded into a burning, consuming fire and she pressed her mouth to his, hard and fast.

Chat let a sound of shock escape his lips as Marinette kissed him then, as though this is what he'd been waiting for, he rolled them both over, flipping Marinette against the bedroom floor so he was on top of her, one hand in her hair, the other around her waist.

She brought her hands up to hold his face and he let his own slide down her neck and around her breast, dragging his thumb gently backward and forward over her nipple like he had seen her do to herself. She groaned into his mouth and he ground his hips into her, pressing his length against her and making her thrust back, sounds of pleasure escaping her with every touch.

"Marinette!"

The pair jumped at the sound, breaking apart their kiss and looking at the trap door in fright, it was Marinette's parents, home already.

"I… erm… yes!" Marinette called out, suddenly feeling the need to cover herself again and blushing.

"Just checking you're home!" Came her father's voice.

Marinette scrambled to her feet and brushed her fingers through her hair in a distressed manner, what had she been thinking? Well she hadn't, she'd been fantasising and letting her hormones get the better of her.

"I… should go?" Said Chat, he looked like he wasn't sure what to do, Marinette nodded meekly and turned to grab her dressing gown but her wrist was caught by Chat who pulled her back toward him and landed a delicate peck on her lips before disappearing through the balcony door.

"Marinette!" Came a small voice, Marinette turned to see Tiki wizzing toward her.

"Tiki!" Replied Marinette,

"I heard you screaming and came upstairs but when I saw Chat Noir I hid and… are you involved with Char Noir?" Squeaked the little red Kwami.

"No!" Replied Marinette, "I mean… I don't think so… I just… oh Tiki", cried Marinette, "I don't know what to think, he just turned up and I can hardly think straight near him anymore".

"Don't worry Marinette, it's okay if you like Chat", soothed Tiki, "I just thought you liked Adrien",

"I do! I just… what happened with Chat just… happened, I think I need to get some rest",

And with that Marinette climbed under her covers and closed her eyes.

Her Kwami opened her mouth to say something but decided to leave things as they were until later.

"Marinette?... Marinette?"

Marinette blinked and looked up at Alya who was watching her with concern,

"Are you even listening?" Alya asked,

"I'm sorry Alya, I'm a little bit distracted", replied Marinette,

"A little bit?" Scoffed Alya, "You've been staring into space all morning, now come on, class is starting soon and I really want to get just the quickest interview with you after your Akuma attack yesterday".

"Okay", agreed Marinette, "I'll focus, ask away", said Marinette, turning to face Alya who lifted her phone and pressed record.

"So, Marinette", began Alya, "Yesterday you were the target of an Akumatised villain, Breathless Beauty, and were saved by none other than our two hero's, Ladybug and Chat Noir",

"Yes", answered Marinette, looking nervous, "Yes I was".

"Did you get to spend much time with the dynamic duo?"

"Erm… not a lot", stuttered Marinette, "They were busy, you know, fighting…"

"No up close and personal accounts?" pressed Alya,

"Well, I mean, I got to see them in action which was great", smiled Marinette, "They were… fast".

"Fast?"

"Yes… super hero fast and… Chat Noir was so busy I barely saw him at all",

"…riiiight", Alya looked a little disappointed but continued anyway, "this isn't the first time you've been rescued by Chat Noir, is it?"

"No… he's always there for me… I mean, for us, for Paris", Marinette turned red, shifting on her feet uncomfortably.

"Well I'm sure a lot of girls would have liked to have been in your place, anything you'd like to say to the heart throb hero?"

"What? No! That's crazy, it's not like he knows me or anything, we'd have nothing to talk about!"

Alya put down her phone and stared at Marinette suspiciously.

"Okay girl, you're being weirder than usual and that's saying something, what's going on?"

"Nothing!" Lied Marinette, "You're just asking what I'd say to someone I don't even know, that's weird, not me",

"Did something happen that you're not telling me?" Asked Alya, raising an eyebrow,

"Did you hear that?" Replied Marinette, "the bell went!" and with that Marinette started running toward the school steps.

"No, it didn't!" Called Alya, running behind her.

Once in class Marinette took her seat, Alya begrudgingly took hers too, in silence, deciding that Marinette would talk eventually.

"Oh look, if it isn't thing one and thing two", laughed Chloe with her friend Sabrina.

"Do you ever take a day off?" Asked Alya,

"Does Marinette ever wear outfits she didn't find in a bin?" Replied Chloe, nastily.

"Why don't you leave her alone, Chloe?"

Chloe and Alya both looked at Adrien, surprised, he was usually so quiet and was the last to rise to Chloe's goading but he was practically scowling at her.

"Yeah Chloe", added Nino, Adrien's friend, "you can be way harsh",

"It's not Marinette's fault if she's talented or pretty or whatever reason it is that you're always picking on her and I think I speak for everyone when I say we're all pretty bored of listening too it".

Chloe looked like she'd been slapped before folding her arms in a frustrated manner and sitting angrily back in her seat.

Marinette had turned bright pink, Adrien had just called her talented and pretty, her Adrien, the boy she'd been crazy about for the past two years!

She looked, open mouthed at Alya who grinned excitedly and nudged Marinette in a congratulatory way.

Adrien turned sheepishly and looked up at Marinette, he too was blushing and smiled weakly.

"Sorry Marinette, I didn't mean to get involved", he said.

"Oh… it's erm… it's, it's fine", she felt like her head was going to pop off like a cork in a bottle, she was so overcome with excitement and anxiety and surprise.

When it was time to leave class Marinette hadn't done a single thing, her mind had spent all lesson thinking about Adrien calling her pretty and then Chat Noir kissing her and then Adrien Kissing her and Chat on top of her in her bedroom and then Adrien on top of her in her bedroom and then trying to forget it and focus, but the memory of her first real encounter with a boy was far too powerful a feeling to push aside.

"Marinette, we're done!" Shouted Alya for the third time, Marinette jumped and started snatching up her things and pushing them down into her bag.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Alya", she started heading for the door and had escaped outside so fast that Alya practically had to run to keep up with her.

"Where's the fire girl?"

"Oh… I erm…", began Marinette,

"Marinette!" came the voice of Adrien, the pair looked up to see Adrien waving over to them, he started jogging toward the pair and Marinette almost turned and ran the other way.

"Mari, calm down!" Commanded Alya, holding her by the arm.

"Hey Marinette", said Adrien, he looked down at his shoes and then up at her face, smiling hopefully.

"H-hey", squeaked Marinette.

"I was wondering if… you'd like to come… watch a movie with me?" he asked, barely making eye contact,

"A movie?" was all Marinette could manage, was this real, was it a trick?

"Yeah, I've got pretty much everything and-"

"Wait, _you've_ got… like a movie at your house?" Asked Marinette,

"Well, yeah… if you want".

"Me and Alya and Nino?"

"No… just you and me", he looked her in the eyes this time, there was something so familiar there that started Marinette's heart racing a thousand beats a second, she felt like she was falling from a great height.

"Like a date?" Asked Alya, Marinette gave Alya a look of utter shock but Alya just smiled back and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Well I was hoping it wouldn't be _like_ a date", said Adrien, Marinette wasn't sure if she felt disappointed or relieved, "I was hoping it would actually _be_ a date", he explained.

"Yes", Marinette had answered before she could even think, it was like a force outside of herself had accepted the invitation rather than herself but Adrien smiled in a satisfied way at her, letting her know it was definitely her who had spoken.

"Great", he beamed, "would you like to come in the car with me or do you want to come over later?"

"I'll… I'll come over later", said Marinette, "About six?"

"See you at six", Adrien replied before leaning in and giving Marinette a peck on her cheek, then he turned and headed to his limousine.

" . !" Said Alya, looking completely amazed, "You have a date with Adrien Agreste!"

"Yes", said Marinette, nodding, "I do… I have a date with… Adrien Agreste?" She suddenly looked horrified, "Oh my god! Alya, I have a date with Adrien Agreste! What do I do?" Panicked Marinette, dropping her bag and starting to run back and forth.

"Marinette!" Said Alya, grabbing her by the shoulders to still her, "you go home, get showered and changed and then you go to that boy's house and have the best damn date of your life!"

"But Alya, it's the only date of my life!" Complained Marinette, "What if I do something awful, what if I knock over something expensive in his house or I don't know which fork to use at dinner and I'm thrown out and told never to come back again and then he marries Chloe and I die alone in a skip full of cats!?"

Alya looked at her with an exasperated expression and sighed,

"Marinette, it's not that difficult, just be you and if he tries to kiss you I'm sure you'll figure it out".

Marinette smiled awkwardly, knowing she'd already figured out how to kiss the night before.

The friends parted ways and Marinette ran home, once she was safely in her bedroom Tiki flew from her purse.

"Marinette, I can't believe you've got a date with Adrien!" Tiki cried,

"I know", gasped Marinette,

"But… what about Chat Noir?" Asked Tiki, "you were both pretty close the other day",

"I know", this time Marinette sounded wretched, "I know it makes me a terrible person and I do like Chat, kissing him was… but it's Adrien, Tiki! I've waited for Adrien to notice me in that way for so long! And now he's finally asked me out and if I don't do it I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life! How can I even think about Chat Noir if I'm always wondering about Adrien?"

"It's a difficult situation Marinette but I do think you owe it to yourself to find out how Adrien feels… just don't let yourself get caught up with the two of them, you'll end up upsetting yourself and two people you care about".

Marinette nodded at her Kwami's wise words and began to get ready for her date.


	2. Chapter 2

"What were you thinking?" Asked Plagg, lifting a chunk from the camembert in front of him and sinking his teeth into the soft cheese.

"I was thinking about seeing her again", answered Adrien, sweeping back his hair in front of the mirror and straightening his collar.

"You see her every day at school!" retorted Plagg,

"Sitting in front of her at school is not what I mean",

"Eurgh! I know what you mean", Plagg pulled a disgusted face at Adrien who blushed.

"I don't mean that, you pig!" Replied Adrien as Plagg stuffed another gigantic piece of cheese into his face, "Any way, you'd better keep out of sight, she'll be here soon".

"Oh, I see how it is, the second a girl's involved, you ditch your real friends",

"I'm serious Plagg, and keep that stinking camembert away too, I don't want her thinking that smell is me!"

"Well luckily for you I'm happy to hide in the cupboard with my cheese, imagine her meeting me and finding out you're Chat Noir, wow, that would be awkward!" teased Plagg, "nothing like going on a date a realising you've already-"

"Are you done?" Snapped Adrien,

"sheesh, touchy! Can I at least ask what this is supposed to achieve?"

"I just want to get to know her, Plagg",

"And what about your one true Ladybug love?" Plagg raised an eyebrow and Adrien sighed.

"I still love Ladybug, I think I always will but this girl… I can't stop thinking about her, and she's a real person and I know who she is… she actually likes me. I feel like I have to see where this goes or I'll regret it forever".

"Where can it go really? It's not like you can ever tell her who you really are, not like with Ladybug", Plagg added,

"Can we please stop talking about Ladybug just for a second? This whole situation is confusing enough without thinking about that".

"Okay, if you want to live in denial", scoffed Plagg, zooming off into the cupboard ,with excellent timing, as there was a knock at the door.

"Come in", said Adrien, his heart in his throat.

The door opened and Nathalie was standing there to one side, holding the handle, an extremely nervous looking Marinette beside her.

Marinette looked at Adrien, he'd styled his hair back from his face and was wearing a black shirt with the collar up over a white T with grey jeans. She smiled weakly and gave a half wave before Nathalie gestured for her to enter the room.

"Have you eaten?" Asked Nathalie, Marinette nodded and Nathalie smiled then said, "good, Mr Egrese will be down presently".

"What?" Asked Adrien, looking shocked,

"He wanted to meet the young lady you invited round", explained Nathalie,

"Oh, well he has met her before but I suppose, if Marinette wouldn't mind?"

"I'd love to!" Marinette's entire face lit up, Gabriel Egrese was her favourite fashion designer, the chance to speak to him and learn from him, it was a dream come true, almost as much of a dream come true as being invited on a date by Adrien.

Adrien looked at Marinette, she was in a short, pink, strappy dress with a light blue cardigan and the same over-the-shoulder-bag she wore to school, he couldn't understand why he'd never noticed how beautiful she was before, he'd always known she was pretty but he'd never really looked at her. Perhaps it was because she was shy, Adrien had always been attracted to strong, confident girls, he loved it when Ladybug did something wild or daring, he loved that she knew how to put him in his place and didn't get all tongue tied when he flirted like any other girl would and he loved how kind she was with it.

 _No, stop thinking about Ladybug!_ He scolded himself.

"So, what movies do you like?" He asked, I picked some out and put them on the table to help you choose, we own so many".

Marinette smiled to Nathalie as she left, and walked over to Adrien nervously with her hands clasped together in front of her.

"Oh, thank you", she said in a small voice, she looked down at the table and saw an array of soppy, romantic movies, she'd only seen two of them before and that was because Alya had forced her. Did he actually like these terrible films or was it because it was a date and he thought it would be romantic?

"Eeeerm… I haven't really seen any of these… which would you recommend?" She tried,

"To be honest… these aren't my thing, I just thought with you being a girl and all-"

"What do you mean by that?" Marinette demanded, her annoyance over taking her nerves.

"Well, you know, these are the types of movies girls watch… right?" Adrien felt he'd made an error but something about Marinette's quizzical eyebrows and angry frown reminded him of someone, he couldn't think who but it made him smile slightly.

"Not this girl, or have you forgotten I beat you at computer games? Another habit some people think is reserved for boys",

"You did do that", he laughed a little, "well then, what would you watch if you could pick?"

"I like action movies", shrugged Marinette, "and I've seen a few good horrors",

"Then it's decided", grinned Adrien, "we'll watch the new Face Ripper 3",

"Face Ripper 3? That's not even out yet!" Exclaimed Marinette,

"My dad knows a guy", smiled Adrien, pulling a copy from the shelf.

Adrien had some popcorn delivered to his room and pushed a button revealing the biggest TV Marinette had ever seen in real life. It rose up, out of the floor and she stared amazed as Adrien put the DVD in and joined Marinette on the couch. He sat down and put his hand at his side where it touched Marinette's and made the pair jump, snatching their hands back up nervously.

"Sorry", they both said in unison.

They sat and watched the movie in silence for a while, Adrien holding the popcorn and munching away as Marinette tried to remember the plot from the first two movies. She reached over for some popcorn and their hands touched again causing the pair to pull back and look around sheepishly.

"I'm sorry", said Adrien eventually, "this is my first date and… I'm not completely sure what to do",

"Me too", confessed Marinette,

"No way, but you're so beautiful", said Adrien,

"You can talk", said Marinette, her face burning "you're a model! I bet you get asked out all the time",

"Not really, most girls just kind of… stare", he replied,

"Sorry, I never meant to",

"You… used to stare at me?" He asked,

"No! I mean… I just… I didn't… yeah… I could never think of what to say to you", she looked into his eyes for some hint of what he was thinking,

"I didn't realize I made you so nervous", he finally answered.

"You're Adrien Agreste, you make a lot of girls nervous- because you're a famous model, not because you're dangerous or anything! I mean because you're so handsome! Oh no, what am I saying?"

Adrien let out a laugh and smiled warmly at Marinette which made her smile back, he really was very attractive.

"I didn't know you liked me so much", he said,

"I… have for a while…", she looked down at her fidgeting hands, she didn't know if she wanted this moment to keep on going or if she wanted to disappear, she didn't know she could be terrified and excited all at once.

"Marinette", he said, she looked up to see Adrien had leaned closer to her so his face was almost touching hers which made her gasp. He smiled at the small sound, thinking of the night before and the gasps she had made then, thinking about it made his heart begin to race, he wanted to feel like that again.

Suddenly Adrien's lips were against hers and Marinette felt the same spark, the electricity that coursed through her, the feeling of her heart speeding up in her chest, her stomach tightening as the sensation of butterflies filled it. She was kissing Adrien! The real, actual, Adrien! It was hard to believe she wasn't dreaming and as his hands moved around her to pull her in closer she couldn't help but to push back against him, kissing him harder and letting her own hands come up into his hair. That was when she thought about the feeling of Chat's arms around her, the feeling of him pressing down on her, of wanting him, and she broke apart their kiss and looked up at Adrien with pain in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" He asked a little breathily, "don't you want to?"

"I do", she assured him, "I really do but… I shouldn't be doing this", she shook her head and looked down at her lap.

"Why?" Asked Adrien, lifting her chin and looking at her perplexed,

"Because I kissed someone else", she admitted, "and I feel like… I shouldn't be doing this, not until I've… I don't know what", she sighed in a defeated way.

Realisation hit Adrien, he looked at Marinette and felt awful, she was so torn, so upset about having betrayed Chat, all because he was lying to her.

"Well… it's not so bad", he tried,

"What do you mean?" She asked,

"Are you dating this other person?"

"Well, no but-"

"Have you talked about being together or made any promises to each other?" He continued,

"No, but it still feels-"

"Then it's fine", he smiled, "you're not breaking any promises".

"Adrien… I wish I could see it that way", she said standing, "I really do… but I can't do something if it seems dishonest… I should leave, I should never have come".

She turned to walk away but Adrien grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward him,

"Please Marinette, I feel like I'm only just getting to know you and I like who I'm seeing, just give me a chance?" he looked at her with longing eyes but Marinette dropped her gaze and shook her head.

"I like you too much to start something with you that isn't honest, you deserve better than that Adrien", she pulled her hand free and left the room, closing the door behind her, Adrien was going to chase after her but instead just stared, not sure what to do next.

"Well, who didn't see that one coming?" Asked Plagg, emerging from his hiding hole,

"I didn't", said Adrien, sitting down on his couch and putting his head in his hands.

"Come on Adrien, you can't try and win over a nice girl by chatting her up as two different people, she wouldn't be that nice a person if she was okay with it",

"But both those people are me!" Adrien protested,

"But she doesn't know that", shrugged Plagg, "at least there's always Ladybug",

"Ladybug", sighed Adrien, "I wonder if she has to deal with the same problems I do".


	3. Chapter 3

The next day at school Alya was waiting by the steps to meet Marinette, she had a wide, excited grin spread across her face and was impatiently watching her friend approach.

"So?" Was the first thing she said,

"So, what?" Asked Marinette, hoping to avoid the coming conversation.

"So, what?" Mimicked Alya, amazed, "Okay, I've had enough of this, first you get rescued by Ladybug and Chat Noir and act like it didn't happen, then you spend the next day in some kind of coma and now, after going on an actual date with the boy you've been in love with for over two years, you act like it was a trip to the local supermarket!"

"I'm sorry Alya", sighed Marinette, "I know I've been distant",

"Distant? Girl, you're in another country! What could possibly be going on that you have to keep so secret? Don't you trust me Mari?"

Marinette looked at Alya's face, a mixture of concern and hurt, she felt so guilty keeping so much from her friend but how much could she really tell her?

"It wasn't… what I'd hoped it would be", Marinette tried,

"In what way?" Pushed Alya, "Did you kiss him?"

"…yeah… we kissed", nodded Marinette, awkwardly,

"OH MY GOD!" Shrieked Alya, "What else?"

"What do you mean what else?"

"Well, after the kissing was there… more?"

"No, there wasn't more… I left", confessed Marinette.

"You left?" Alya stared at Marinette dumb struck, "Was his kissing terrible? Did he try to force you?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that!" Assured Marinette, "He was sweet and kind… it just… wasn't right",

Alya sighed and suddenly looked understanding,

"So, after all this time, you finally got to be on your own with him and you didn't have a connection?"

"Kind of", said Marinette, "I like him still… I just feel like this isn't the right time".

"I get it, you built it up so much in your head, I'd be amazed if any relationship could live up to what you were expecting, plus we're all off to college soon, maybe once the pressure of that's dealt with you can try again?" Alya put her hand on Marinette's back in a sympathising way.

"Yeah, you're right, applications and tests, it's all so much, I promise I'll try harder to focus and be a better friend", nodded Marinette,

"Don't sweat it girl", smiled Alya, "I've always got your back".

The pair climbed the school steps and took their seats in class, Marinette looked up to see Chloe was glaring at her from across the room.

"Erm… what's going on there?" Marinette whispered to Alya,

"Just about everyone knows you and Adrien went on a date yesterday, I don't think Chloe's too happy about it", replied Alya.

"Fantastic, I'll probably have Breathless Beauty after me again in no time", groaned Marinette.

Adrien and Nino entered the room, he looked up to Marinette and smiled in an uncomfortable way, she gave him a weak smile in return before he took his seat in silence.

Nino looked Up at Alya and pulled a face that said "what do we do now?" and Alya shrugged back at him.

"I hope this isn't making things weird for you and Nino", Marinette whispered to Alya,

"Don't worry girl, we spend plenty of time together without you and Adrien, we're keeping out of this",

"Like you could control yourself for long enough to", smiled Marinette, Alya giggled back and started unpacking her bag.

"At least that cold smile you both just shared has warmed someone up", Alya nodded toward Chloe who was grinning maliciously, obviously the energy in the room was not lost on her or her friend Sabrina.

"Oh Adrikins!" Chloe called out,

"Hey Chloe", replied Adrien, he smiled politely while Nino smirked next to him.

"You're looking extra handsome today", she said,

"Oh… thanks", he answered, Nino chuckled and Adrien elbowed him in the side.

"So you're coming to my party, right?" She continued,

"Party?" Adrien asked,

"My birthday, silly! Don't worry, your daddy's got the details, and the best part is it's invite only so there'll be no… unwanted guests", she looked disapprovingly at Marinette and Alya, who both rolled their eyes.

"Oh, I don't know Chloe", began Adrien,

"All the best people in Paris will be there!" she said over him, "Jagged Stone will be playing",

"Oh yeah, Marinette designed his last album cover, didn't you?" He turned in his seat and looked at her, Marinette practically jumped at being suddenly confronted with the boy she loved, the boy she'd rejected just the night before.

"Oh… yeah", she squeaked,

"And!" Snapped Chloe, ignoring Marinette, "I've even invited Ladybug and Chat Noir".

"You have?" Adrien and Marinette said at once,

"Ew, who asked you?" Chloe said the Marinette,

"Is Ladybug really going to be there?" Asked Adrien,

"Of course she is, she's practically my besty", smiled Chloe,

"that's funny, she never mentions you when I interview her for my Ladyblog", smirked Alya,

"That's because you're Ladyblog isn't worthy of my name", bit back Chloe, "well I'll see you there, Adrikins".

"Okay class, everyone face the front", came the voice of the teacher.

By the last class Marinette was still avoiding Adrien, she'd hidden in the girls bathroom when she'd seen him walking nearby with Nino but knew she couldn't wait too long or she'd be late.

"Are you okay Marinette?" Came the small voice of Tiki, Marinette opened her purse and looked down at her kwami.

"I don't know", she confessed, "being near him is just… I just want to tell him I made a mistake and see if he'll give me a second chance but then…"

"You think about Chat?" Asked Tiki, Marinette nodded,

"It's crazy, I can't stop thinking about kissing Adrien but every time I do I think about kissing Chat and I almost can't tell them apart, it felt so right… with both of them… am I terrible person, Tiki?"

"Don't be crazy Marinette!" Scolded Tiki, "you're one of the best people I know, you think you can't be in love with two people at once?"

"I'm not in love with Chat", laughed Marinette,

"but you said you're in love with Adrien",

"I am", agreed Marinette,

"And you said you couldn't tell the feeling apart when you kissed them", added Tiki,

"I know but… I can't… not Chat!"

"Why not? He's brave and handsome and loyal and always there for you when you need him, what's so crazy about falling for him?"

Marinette stared at her face in the mirror, shock in her eyes.

"Oh my god", she eventually said, "am I in love with Chat Noir?"

Nathaniel, Marinette's class mate had been headed toward the toilet's too when he'd seen Marinette, she was so beautiful. He'd always had a crush on her but she never seemed to notice him and the only time he'd really spent alone with her was when he'd been akumatized and had apparently made a complete fool of himself.

He watched Marinette take one look at Adrien Agreste and practically throw herself into the girls room, her face a picture of panic.

"What's going on with Marinette and Adrien?" He asked Kim, another classmate.

"Didn't you know? Adrien took her on a date yesterday", answered Kim,

"What? Then why would she run from him?" Nathaniel could feel his face getting hotter just at the thought of Marinette being with someone else,

"Who knows, maybe they slept together and now she's embarrassed or something, just ask her", shrugged Kim, heading away.

Nathaniel darted into an empty class room and slammed the door behind him, his heart beating wildly and his fists clenched.

"No!" He shouted.

Outside the school, across Paris, an old man was walking down the street, lifting his cane shakily and bringing it back down again with each, aged step.

"Out of the way!" Came a voice, the man looked up to see three teens, one on a skate board, two on skates, all barrelling toward him. He cried out in panic but couldn't move aside in time as the group tore past him, knocking him off his feet and pointing back to laugh as they disappeared over a hill.

The circular window of Hawkmoths attic room opened slowly, he smiled a wretched smile and allowed himself a small laugh.

"How utterly perfect", he snarled, "Not just one wronged victim but two, but how do I choose? I know", he opened his left hand for a pair of white butterflies to land on his palm, side by side and covered them with his right, letting the black cloud of evil shroud and fill them.

"I won't", he laughed, "Go my little one's and evilise them!"

The Akuma's fluttered away, exiting through the window and dancing out, across the Paris sky.

Nathaniel felt something familiar come over him as he heard a voice,

"Hello again Evilustrator", purred Hawkmoth, "I'm offering you a second chance at the lady of your dreams but first you must bring me what I want",

"Yes Hawkmoth", agreed Nathaniel, the black cloud engulfed him and left him standing in a black beret, his face tinged with purple, his shirt was black and white striped with a circular painting pallet on his chest, his red hair spiked and his trousers black, merging into a red shoe at the bottom. On his arm was an electronic pad and in his hand a pen.

Out on the street the old man also heard the same voice,

"Hello Life-Taker, I am Hawkmoth and I will grant you the power to take back the life of the ungrateful youths who have wronged you but in return you must first bring me Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses!"

"Of course, Hawkmoth", smiled the old man, he too was consumed by the cloud and was left in a green jumpsuit with a golden clock on his chest and black boots and gloves.

A young boy swaggered past him, stopping to look the old man up and down,

"What are you supposed to be?" He scoffed,

"I'd worry more about what you are", replied the old man,

"What?"

"Out of time!" The old man snatched the boys hand up into his own, the boy cried out as he felt his strength fading, his limbs and back tightening, painfully and couldn't help but to slouch down ward.

"Thankyou", smiled the old man, but he didn't look as old as before, he'd looked at least ninety when the boy had walked past but now he stood a little taller, his face was a little less wizened and he looked closer to seventy.

The old man walked away, the boy turned and looked at the reflection in a shop window, but it wasn't his reflection, it was another old man, realisation hit him hard as he looked down at his hands and screamed.

Marinette Entered the class room feeling a little shaken, she looked up at Adrien and looked away immediately, she felt even guiltier than before, how could she love someone else? How could she betray the beautiful Adrien Agreste?

"Have you guys heard?"

Everyone looked down to the classroom door and saw Juleka standing there,

"It's an Akuma attack!" she declared,

"Oh dear, okay class, everyone, go straight home, get inside and be safe!" Instructed the teacher, the students immediately began filling out of the room.

Marinette made her way as quickly as she could to the ladies and checked under the stall doors to ensure she was alone.

"Okay Tiki, spots on!"

In a flash Marinette was standing not as Marinette anymore but as the super heroine, Ladybug, she made her way out of the school unseen and used her yoyo to swing to the top of a building.

She surveyed the ground for signs of danger when she heard screams and saw people running further up ahead, she swang again in that direction, pausing on a closer roof top.

"Good afternoon, my lady", came a familiar voice.

"Chat!" She jumped and span around, Chat stood behind her, leaning against a chimney breast, his arms folded lazily across his leather clad chest and a mischievous grin on his face.

"I hope you don't mind the company?" He winked at her and waited for her reply but she just opened and closed her mouth, uselessly, "don't tell me the Cat's got your tongue", he laughed with a confused expression on his face.

"No!" She said, far too suddenly, "no, I erm… was just thinking, you surprised me is all",

"Ohhhhkaaaay?" He frowned and then looked down at the street, "any idea of what we've got?"

"I was hoping you'd know", she replied, "just stay close when we head down",

"You know I don't need an excuse to get close to you, my lady", he wiggled his eyebrows but stopped when he noticed she was staring at him with wide, worried eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ladybug? You seem off",

"Sorry… it's been a… weird day, let's just get this over with", and with that she swung down to street.

"Right behind you", Chat shrugged, spinning his stick like the propeller of a helicopter and pouncing after her.


	4. Chapter 4

Lady bug landed on the ground and looked up to see a middle-aged man in a green suit, a golden clock on his chest, he grabbed the hand of a girl nearby and she watched as she shrivelled and shrank into an elderly woman. The clock on the man's chest span backward as he looked up at her, the wrinkles around his eyes lessening, the grey flecks in his beard turning brown.

"Ah, Ladybug, how nice of you to visit, please allow me to introduce myself", he said, straightening up and smiling, "I am Life-Taker and as you can see, with just a touch I have the power to make your acrobatic, super skills, quite useless. You could always trade me however, your life for your Miraculous!"

"It's a tempting offer, I think she'll go with option three and take your Akuma instead", cut in Chat Noir, landing at Ladybug's side.

"I think the Akuma must be the watch", Ladybug whispered to Chat, "distract him and I'll try to smash it".

Chat gave Ladybug a gracious bow and began spinning his stick again, heading toward Life-taker.

"Foolish boy, you'd sooner be old and weak than give up your powers? Fine, I'll teach you a lesson about respecting your elders!" Life-Taker snapped, charging toward Chat and missing him with his outstretched hand by millimetres as Chat turned, with agility, on his heel and hit Life-Taker in the back with his stick, knocking him off balance and onto the ground.

"Careful now", grinned Chat, "you don't want to break a hip",

Life-Taker growled and turned himself over, jumping up just in time to avoid Ladybug's yoyo, that flew toward his chest with such force that it cracked the stone floor where he'd been laid.

Ladybug cursed at her miss as Life-Taker clicked his fingers, sections of a something flat and green began to fan out beneath his feet until he was standing on a skateboard that lit up at the back with fire and propelled him forward, toward Ladybug where he knocked her to the ground.

"Ladybug!" Cried out Chat, throwing his stick which span through the air, connecting with Life-Taker's head and then boomeranged back to its owner.

"You'll regret that!" Roared Life-Taker, turning his attention to Chat and rocketing toward him, his hands reaching outward to steal Chat's life force, "LET'S HOLD HAND'S!" He cried,

"Okay", replied Chat, looking focused, "CATACLYSM!"

Life-Taker barely hand time to pull his hands to safety and avoid grabbing Chat's destruction-super powered hand but didn't avoid Chat grabbing a hold of the golden clock on his chest, turning it to dust and releasing the Akuma.

"No more evil doing for you little Akuma, it's time to de-evilise!", came the voice of Ladybug, who used her yoyo to entrap the evil and release the cleansed creature, "bye, bye little butterfly".

Then she used her lucky-charm power to return the stolen years to the victims and reverse the effects of Hawkmoths powers.

"Pound it!" The pair fist bumped, Marinette smiled at Chat who smiled back but then reality flooded back and she felt panicked.

"Well, that's my cue", she disappeared so quickly that Chat barely had time to think.

"Damn… I hope she isn't mad with me for something", he mumbled to himself.

As soon as Marinette was out of sight she returned to her normal form, she wanted to get home and away from having to face either Adrien or Chat for as long as possible.

"I'll feed you as soon as we're home, Tiki", she promised to the sleeping Kwami in her bag.

Chat Noir had moved to a roof top, it was easier to go home at super speed and just transform there, but he did love sitting above everything so he could think.

"Ladybug doesn't want to see me and neither does Marinette, looks like black cats really are unlucky", he huffed, feeling thoroughly sorry for himself, "I should just ring Marinette, I should call her and ask her for a second date, maybe I can fix things".

Before he could change his mind, he pulled out his phone and dialled the number, he was so sure she wouldn't want to talk to him that he almost dropped the phone over the ledge when he heard her voice.

"Adrien?" She said,

"Marinette! Wow, hi… I know this is… probably not what I should be asking, I mean-"

"Adrien, I'm sorry I've been being weird and… I'm just generally sorry but I'm walking home and only half way down Rue de l'Abreuvoir so it's gonna take me a while, would it be okay if I called you back?"

"Yeah, of course, I just wanted to say I know you made it clear you didn't want to date me right now or anything but… I was hoping-" suddenly Chat's words were cut off by a scream, "Marinette?" He shouted but there was no answer, luckily he knew where to find her.

Moving quicker than he knew he could, he flew across the slates of the Paris buildings, the wind at his back and his muscles aching from the ferocity of his cat like sprint. He came to Rue de l'Abreuvoir faster than he'd dared to hope and his eyes panned around with desperation, seeking out any sign of Marinette. His cat ears suddenly swivelled slightly, homing in on the sound of screaming, setting him off again, the sound of his panting only broken by the ominous beeping of his miraculous ring.

"Not yet!" He roared.

Marinette twisted and turned against the chains that Evilustrator had drawn around her but as he continued to drag her through the darkening streets she realised it was useless.

"How are you Akumatized? Ladybug and Chat Noir just defeated an Akumatized victim!" She demanded,

"It seems Hawkmoth has more power than you realised", replied Nathaniel, pulling her into the broken door of an abandoned warehouse.

"So, what? You're going to kill me?", she asked, stepping over the rotten beams that had fallen to the ground as the building had decayed.

"Kill you?" Asked Evilustrator, turning to look at her, "Of course not, Marinette, I don't plan to hurt you, I love you".

"Yeah? Well chains don't make good for a first date", she bit back,

"But this isn't our first date", he grinned, "sadly that was ruined by Chat Noir but I plan on getting him back for that!"

"What are you going to do to Chat?" She looked worried and it wasn't lost on Evilustrator.

"Why the concern?" He raised an eyebrow,

"Because… he's one of Paris's heroes", she answered, "he keeps us safe".

"Well he'll be road kill when I'm done with him", laughed Evilustrator, "him and that Ladybug!"

He pulled her to the ground in the middle of a large room where shafts of dim light punctured the roof and made dappled patterns on the floor, there was a large, metal beam that had dropped and rusted in place where he wrapped the chain and left Marinette bound.

"Chat's harder to beat than you might think", Marinette said, struggling against her chains in a futile manner,

"Chat Noir has already used his Cataclysm and has minutes left of his transformation", beamed Evilustrator, "I only have to outlast him for a few seconds, then I will take his Miraculous and you will be mine forever".

"What about Ladybug?" Marinette tried,

"She'll be easy prey without Chat Noir to back her up, I've never seen either one of them win a fight alone", Evilustrator said in an offhand tone.

Marinette wasn't sure what to say, she knew Ladybug wasn't coming and had nothing to feed Tiki, she could only hope that Chat wouldn't come or that he'd at least be intelligent enough to power up his Kwami first and come later.

Almost on cue, there was a crash as splintered rubble and masonry fell from the ceiling and Chat Noir landed, crouched low to absorb the impact. Both Marinette and Evilustrator had leapt, not expecting the explosive entrance and Evilustrator barely had time to make a clever comment before Chat's stick hit him square between the eyes, sending him flying backward, into the wall.

"Chat!" Cried Marinette, "how did you know I was here?"

But Chat wasn't listening, he'd already begun a second assault on Nathaniel who was scribbling on his pad desperately.

A gigantic hammer, suspended by the handle, swung across the room at Chat but he bounded over it like it was the easiest thing in the world, still staring at Evilustrator with murder in his eyes. The hammer hit the wall and the entire building rumbled ominously, Marinette looked around at the weakened structure and pulled at her chains again, leaning back so hard she couldn't help but to cry out in pain.

"How dare you put your hands on her!" Chat roared as he struck Evilustrator, sending him hurtling through the air once more, crashing into one of the beams, the building shook again and Evilustrator's stylus cracked against the beam, releasing the Akuma.

Nathaniel looked around, his body ached and he was lying in filth, he looked up at the creaking walls around him and gasped,

"What's going on?" He asked but standing over him was a furious looking Chat Noir, "What's happening?" He asked again, panic in his voice.

"Chat!" Cried Marinette, "the building's coming down!"

Chat shook his head as if waking from a dream and looked around, there was mortar crumbling from the walls and falling in chunks from the roof.

"Nathaniel, get out now!" He ordered, Nathaniel turned and ran toward the door, Chat ran toward Marinette, the chain was still there.

"Without Ladybug to use her lucky charm to undo Evilustrator's powers, I can't make the chains disappear!" He looked into Marinette's terrified eyes.

"You need to get out Chat", she said in a small voice, "you won't survive if you stay with me",

"I'm not leaving you!" He shouted,

"there's not time to argue", she sighed, closing her eyes and dropping her head.

She heard a creak and looked up, Chat was beneath the metal beam, his shoulders and upturned hands pressed hard against its underside, his face red with effort.

"Chat, it's too big, just get out!" She yelled, "there's no sense in both of us dying in here!" There were tears in her eyes now, it was surely only a matter of seconds before they were both crushed to death but suddenly, to her amazement, she felt the beam move.

"Oh my god, Chat, you're doing it!" The end of the great, iron girder, screeching as the metal grated against the stone work, lifted off of the ground, it wasn't much but Marinette didn't need any encouragement to throw herself down and hastily slip her chains over the end.

Chat let out an animalistic cry of effort and pain as he dropped the girder and without a second to lose, wrapped his arms about Marinette and went barrelling toward the door.

As if on cue the entire building give a final groan and collapsed in on it's self, bricks and rubble pouring down like hail, smashing into the earth and billowing a cloud of dust and decay into the atmosphere.

At first Marinette thought she was dead, she'd felt something heavy slam into her as her back had connected with the ground but as she groggily opened her eyes and blinked at the last flicker of day light she realised they'd made it. She turned her head to look up at her saviour, her vision a little blurred from hitting her head.

"Are you okay?" Came Chat's voice,

"I think so", she blinked up at him, still lying on top of her with his arms wrapped around her from diving out of the door but the scratched and bruised face looking down at her was no longer Chat Noir… it was Adrien Agreste.


	5. Chapter 5

It took a moment for Marinette to absorb what was happening, she blinked a few times and then her eyes opened wide with realisation.

"Oh my god!" she breathed, barely noticing the pain echoing in every part of her body from her ordeal, "Oh my god!" This time it was louder, Adrien, looked at her with a confused and worried expression before noticing his arms and hands were no longer bound in the black leather of his super hero alter ego.

"Marinette", he began but with surprising force she pushed him, hard in the chest, forcing him to fall to the side, releasing her from his grip.

She scrambled to her feet, stumbling a little over the rubble and hardly able to concentrate, her vision was still fuzzy and her head was swimming with shock and possible concussion.

"You're… you can't be", she shook her head, "you can't, it's not possible", she babbled,

"Marinette, I can explain", Adrien cut in,

"Explain?" She shouted, "Explain this, how could you come to my home… do the things we did and then pretend to be someone else? Or how about this one, how could you then ask me on a date and lie to me?"

"What?... How did I lie?" He said, pulling himself up and looking startled,

"You acted like you'd never kissed me, never been close to me, how could you sit there and listen to me confessing my guilt when you already knew?" She was really shouting now, each thing she said making her think more about what had happened, she didn't even know why she was so angry, after all, she was Ladybug, then again, she'd never used both persona's to be intimate with him, she'd never tricked him.

"Marinette, I had to keep my identity secret, it's not safe for people to know who I am and to know I care about you, don't you see the danger you could be in?" He argued,

"Was it my safety you were thinking about when you asked me on a date, knowing I'd already been with Chat?" She demanded,

"No, it was you, I just wanted to be with you, Marinette… I really care about you",

"You care enough to make me feel guilty, to make me feel confused and like I was a liar?"

"Hey, you agreed to come on a date with me, no one forced you, the choices you made that made you feel guilty were real and they were yours!" Adrien shouted.

Marinette stood in silence and stared at him, her eyes watering, her jaw clenched,

"I'm… I'm sorry… I didn't mean-" He began but she'd already turned and had started walking away, "please Marinette! Please talk to me!" He shouted but she didn't turn back.

"Shit!" Adrien, cursed to himself, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the sky in distress.

"You didn't handle that very well", came the voice of Plagg.

Marinette practically ran home, tearing into her bedroom and throwing herself onto her bed to cry into the arms.

"Marinette?" Came a small voice,

"Oh, Tiki, I'm so sorry", sobbed Marinette, pulling open the drawer of her night stand and handing a cookie to the Kwami.

"It's okay", said Tiki, taking a bite of the cookie, "Probably not the first thing on your mind".

"Oh Tiki", Marinette sad up, her eyes red, "I don't even know why I'm crying, or why I'm so angry… I just… I sat with him and told him I'd kissed someone else and he already knew and when I told him I couldn't do something that was wrong and how torn I was and that I wanted to be with him… he just let me feel so awful!"

"What would you have done differently?" Asked Tiki,

"I wouldn't have asked him on a date!" Replied Marinette,

"Really? You'd be able to keep your distance from the love of your life if you'd finally been close to him?"

"I… I don't know", confessed Marinette, "But I definitely wouldn't have done anything that would make him feel so guilty, I couldn't do anything to hurt him".

"Marinette… I've lived a very long time and I can see that you're shocked, tired, upset, today has been nothing if not trying, and I understand how you're feeling about Chat Noir",

"Adrien", corrected Marinette,

"Adrien", agreed Tiki, "but I think maybe a lot of what your feeling is surprise and maybe a little frustration at yourself, that you've been so close to him, spent so much time as a team and you've never seen who he was, even after you kissed them both and said you couldn't tell them apart".

"You think what he did wasn't wrong?" Asked Marinette,

"I think what he did was human", answered Tiki, "I think he realised he cared for you and acted on impulse when he saw you so he could be with you, I think he didn't think his plan through but most importantly, I think he just almost died trying to save your life…".

Marinette wiped the tears from beneath her eyes and looked at Tiki,

"He did, didn't he?" she mumbled, "He could have left and he stayed".

"It's something to think about", smiled Tiki, "but sadly, more importantly, there is an Akuma running lose around Paris right now and only Ladybug can capture it".

"Oh my god, Tiki, you're right, I was so caught up in everything that happened I didn't even stop to think… do you have enough strength right now?"

"I'm good to go", grinned Tiki.

Adrien had already reached home himself and was sitting on his sofa as Plagg devoured his second wheel of cheese.

"She'll never talk to me again", Adrien groaned, "Why didn't I just see her again as Chat and leave Adrien out of the equation?"

"Love makes fools of us all", said Plagg, his voice muffled by food,

out who I was it'd just be a nice surprise… rather than a horrible shock…"

"You know, you're going to have to stop thinking about her so you can locate that Akuma and find Ladybug",

"How can I stop thinking about this? I just managed to convince a girl who actually liked both sides of my personality to instead, hate both sides of my personality… she called me a liar",

"Well, think of it this way, maybe this is destiny's way of telling you to keep going after Ladybug and leave these civilian relationships to the civilians", reasoned Plagg.

"Let's just get this done with", Adrien sat up on the sofa in a defeated manner and sighed to himself feeling incredibly hard done by, "Claws out".

Ladybug sped through the sky landing with ballerina like grace on roof top after roof top, scanning the air for the Akuma, hoping to find it before it multiplied but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, Paris was huge and the Akuma was one, tiny insect, how could she locate it?

"So that's where you are",

Marinette didn't want to turn around, she knew who was standing behind her, one half of her brain was telling her it was Chat, her partner, her most trusted friend, the man who time and again saved her life and helped her save the lives of others but the other half was telling her it was Adrien Agreste, the boy of her dreams, the boy she'd loved for years, the boy she'd just called a liar and left standing alone in the dark.

 _He doesn't know it's you_ , she reminded herself.

"Chat?" She turned and smiled at him, "I… sensed, there was another Akuma", she said, thinking fast, "I'm out here to check".

"It's funny you should say that", answered Chat, "because I have, right here, said Akuma", he held out is clawed hand, closed into a loose fist.

"What? How?" She said, impressed,

"Cat hearing", he shrugged, "didn't take me long, when I really concentrate I can even hear the wings of a butterfly", he grinned, his slightly pointed cat canines showing.

Ladybug used her yoyo to capture the Akuma as Chat released it and sent it on it's way, it's wings a brilliant white.

"So… here I was thinking I'd be out all night, or at the worst, fighting a multiplied Akuma attack", Ladybug said,

"Yeah, I was kinda hoping for the distraction", Chat sighed,

"Are you… okay?" Ladybug asked, feigning ignorance,

"I… might have managed to make some mistakes today", he took a seat at the edge of the building, his feet hanging down, and leant back on his hands.

Ladybug joined him, she looked at his pained expression and felt the urge to kiss him but knew she couldn't.

"Mistakes?" She pushed,

"Bad choices", he explained.

"Sounds like girl trouble", Ladybug added though she had no idea what she was fishing for.

"Ladybug, what would you do if you hurt someone you cared about?" He asked, she stared at him, open mouthed then turned and thought for a moment.

"Honestly? I'd apologise", she replied,

"What if you'd really upset them and an apology wasn't enough?"

"Chat… we all do stupid things, if you do something wrong then you have to put the wrong right and if you've already done that or it's a situation you can't change to put right… then apologising is all you have left… anyone who cares about you will forgive you eventually, if it's genuine", she put her hand on his and smiled.

"You're right Ladybug… I have to apologise… thankyou", he leaned in and hugged her, at first she wasn't sure what to do but then couldn't help but to hug back, melting into him.

"I'm going to apologise right now", he grinned, jumping to his feet and leaping away, she smiled at his retreating back, waving in a day dreamy manner before realising he was headed to her house to apologise.

"Oh shit!" She exclaimed, throwing herself after him.


	6. Chapter 6

When Chat reached the balcony door of Marinette's bedroom, he took a moment to run his hands through his hair and straighten his collar, he hoped she'd calmed down from earlier, he kept thinking of her shocked eyes and the anger that rose in her voice, she'd been so hurt, would she even want to see him so soon. He put his hand on the handle and paused, wondering if he was making a terrible mistake, before clenching his jaw and letting himself in.

As the door swung inward he looked to see Marinette, red in the face as though she had been running, sitting at her desk, her hair looking wild and wind swept.

"Chat", she said, panting slightly,

"Sorry… is this a bad time?" He asked,

"No, I was just doing my exercise's", she lied,

"Oh… can I come in?"

"Yes", she stood up and looked nervously up at him, he couldn't tell if it was because she was upset or because she was just being shy.

"I needed to talk to you", he began,

"I'm happy you did", she said quickly, "I needed to talk to you too".

"I should have… thought more… about how to… deal with what happened…", he seemed to be struggling to find the right words, Marinette stepped forward and put her hands on his arms, making him jump, not realising she'd been so close.

"I'm sorry, Adrien", she said, he felt strange having someone use his real name while he was Chat but it was nice too, it felt like someone was seeing all of him, like a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders.

"I'm sorry too", he replied,

"I over reacted, I think I was just so shocked… I didn't mean to be so angry",

"Does that mean you forgive me?" He asked.

"Yes… as long as you promise to forgive me too", she smiled.

"Claws in", Adrien said under his breath, Marinette frowned, unsure what he meant until suddenly, the black, leather suit of Chat noir was replaced with the black T and white shirt of Adrien Agreste.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that", she breathed,

"Yeah, it's weird doing it in front of somebody", he laughed a little, taking Marinette's hands, "but kind of nice too… you don't realise how big a secret is when you have it for so long, until you share it".

"I'm… not really sure what to say now… it's almost more real now you're… you", she was looking down at the floor again, her hands back at her side, "I wish I didn't get so nervous around you",

"Maybe this will help", he said, stepping toward her so there was hardly any space between them, using his hand to cup her chin and lift her face, they looked at each other for a second and Adrien pressed his lips against hers.

Marinette felt the excitement rise inside her and for the first time, knowing she was kissing Chat and kissing Adrien too, without the guilt or the confusion, she felt completely ecstatic. She put her hands up into his hair like she had last the time and let one of them move slowly down his back and onto his waist. He kissed her harder, their mouths opening and his own hands pulling her so tightly against his body they were grinding together. She moaned into his mouth and let her leg lift so her thigh was against his side, he slid his hand across it, pulling it higher and grabbing at her behind until her second leg came up too, he held her there, wrapped about his waist, moving forward until with a _grunt_ they hit the wall. Once he had her pinned between his body and the wall he pulled greedily at the straps of her top, yanking it down to reveal her chest and bent his head down, taking her nipple into his mouth, rolling it beneath his tongue.

"Oh, Adrien!" She gasped, her legs tightening around him, her heels pushing his behind forward and into her, he growled under his breath and kissed her again, his hand taking over from his mouth on her breast.

She moved her hand from around his neck, down between them, and let it rub up and down at the fabric of his pants causing him to break their kiss and groan. He looked into her eyes with something akin to hunger and Marinette felt her heart hammer against her chest in response.

Adrien put one hand on the back of her head and the other around her waist and carried her across the room, falling onto the bed on top of her, immediately moving his hands to the front of her pants, unfastening them with lightening speed and yanking at the waist band, roughly pulling them down her thighs while he kissed her simultaneously.

"Adrien, calm down", she said between kisses but before she could think his mouth was on her stomach, kissing lower and lower, she gasped and grabbed his hair, yanking him upward, "No, I'll be too loud!" She argued,

"Is that supposed to make me not want to do this? Because it's definitely having the opposite effect", he grinned up at her.

She pulled his hair again, making him begrudgingly crawl back up the bed and over her, he kissed her on the fore head and then looked at her again.

"Is it okay if I kiss you there?" He asked,

"Yes", she smiled,

"How about here?" He asked, kissing her cheek, "Or here?" he kissed her mouth.

"Yes", she replied,

"How about here?" He kissed her on the neck, his hand's sliding down her waist, "Or here?" He kissed her clavicle, his hands on her thighs and his fingertips digging in slightly, she gave a slight intake of breath and bit her lip, enjoying the sensation far too much.

"Yes", she whispered,

"What about if I kiss you here?" he put his mouth on her breast again, she bit back another moan and grabbed at the bed sheet, her hips raising slightly in response to his touch causing Adrien to smile widely, "Or if I kiss you here while I do this?" He put his mouth on the other breast and then slid his hand into her underwear.

Marinette cried out in both pleasure and shock, never before having felt another person touch her there, she threw out her arm, knocking her lamp over which smashed against her bedroom floor.

"Marinette!?" Came the voice of her father,

"Ever get dejavu?" Asked Adrien, looking at his smug grin Marinette almost couldn't believe she'd never recognised him out of the mask, that mischievous, self-satisfied smile could only be one Chat that she knew.

"I'm fine dad!" Marinette called out, "No need to worry!"

"You say that, but if I was a father and my daughter was up to this in her bedroom I think I'd have need to worry", Chat whispered, kissing her neck again.

"We're not doing anything that bad", she replied in a distracted manner,

"Well I'm sure he'd be worried if he knew what I was thinking about doing to you", he moved his hand down again but Marinette grabbed his wrist, she couldn't help smile at the pained and defeated expression on his face.

"Don't pout Chaton", she giggled, "it doesn't suit you",

"But we could use a pillow to muffle your voice?" He suggested,

"I don't think this is the time or the place, and I don't much think a gag will stop me from smashing up my bedroom",

"Handcuffs?" He wiggled his eyebrows making her laugh again, he was definitely Chat Noir.

"I think we should organise to see each other when we can have some privacy", she suggested, "but until then I think you should leave",

Adrien sighed but nodded, turning over and sliding off the edge of the bed,

"Whatever you think is best, princess", he winked at her then said "Plagg, claws out!"

Marinette wondered if seeing her transform into Ladybug would look so impressive, he stood before her, his black suit catching the light and showing the muscular lines of his body, he was tall and broad for a teenager.

"I'm definitely going to struggle falling asleep now I know what it feels like to have you lying beside me, princess", he said, stepping in again and letting one clawed finger sweep a strand of hair out of her face.

"I think I was more lying beneath than beside", she smiled,

"Even better", he kissed her passionately and then looked at her like he was going to scream in frustration, "I have never, in all my life, wanted to leave somewhere less than I want to leave here right now",

"you'll see me tomorrow", she said, giving him a peck on the cheek,

"You can count on that", and with that he jumped onto the balcony, span his stick in one hand and leapt from the ledge, gone like a shadow in the night.

"Damn he's hot", Marinette groaned to herself, putting her hands in her hair.


	7. Chapter 7

Marinette was at the school steps early waiting for Alya, she had to talk to someone about Adrien or her head would pop, of course she couldn't talk as much as she wanted to but there were some small details that she could share.

"Marinette!" Came the voice of Alya, Marinette looked up at her approaching friend and smiled,

"Alya! I've been waiting for you", Marinette called back.

"Wait until you see what I've got", Alya pulled out her phone and immediately thrust it in front of Marinette's face, she took a hold of Alya's wrist and pulled it back a little so she could see the screen properly.

"Is that a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir?" She asked,

"I was going for a walk last night, and I thought I saw them so I went into the hotel across the road, went up the stairs and got this shot of them!".

There was Chat, his legs hanging over the edge of the roof and Ladybug doing the same beside him, her hand on top of his, looking into each others eyes.

"Oh… well, they're friends, right?" Marinette said,

"I told you they were dating! I just knew it! This is going to get some big hits on my Ladyblog", Alya grinned, Marinette just shook her head and grinned, Alya lived for Ladybug related drama, Anyway… you look… different, what-ever was bothering you isn't anymore?"

"You could say that", said Marinette with a coy smile, "you could say things are… better than yesterday".

"Okay girl, I don't know what rhyme wrapped in a riddle you're trying to lay down for me right now but you'd better spill it", said Alya,

"Well, while you were hunting superhero's last night, I might have had a meeting of my own with a certain teen model", Marinette replied, Alya's eyes widened as Marinette's face broke out into a wild grin.

"Shut up!" Exclaimed Alya,

"I know!" Sang Marinette, "I saw him and we talked and… sorted things out",

"By sorted out… does that mean you're dating?"

"Well… we never really talked about that", admitted Marinette,

"Then what did you talk about?" Pushed Alya,

"Erm… well… I suppose we didn't talk that much",

"Oh really?" Alya was looking at Marinette with an expression of amused shock, her arm's folded across her chest, "So if you weren't talking, what were you doing?"

"making up?" Tried Marinette,

"making _out_ , more like", laughed Alya.

"Let's just hope Chloe doesn't try and kill me again", replied Marinette.

"Like I'd let anything happen to my girlfriend", came the voice of Adrien, both the girls turned around to see him standing there.

"Adrien, you're here early", Marinette said, turning pink,

"I wanted to see you", he shrugged,

"Did you just say _girlfriend_?" asked Alya, almost shrieking with excitement,

"I guess all we need is Nino and we can all double date", he suggested,

"I knew the pair of you have been acting fishy for the past few days, how long has this been going on?" Asked Alya,

"Not long", said Marinette.

"You guys!" Alya squealed, wrapping her arms around the pair, "I'm so happy this finally happened, let me get a picture of you both, it's too cute!" She aimed her phone at her friends,

"Alya!" complained Marinette but Adrien put his arm about her waist and pulled her close to him,

"Don't you want a picture of us?" He asked, brushing her hair behind her ear like he had the night before, all Marinette could do was stare at him, this felt like some kind of weird dream.

"Got it!" Called Alya, "Oh, you look so sweet! Look at the way you're just staring at each other!" She showed her phone to them, Marinette felt herself blushing again at the completely besotted way she was staring at Adrien, he had a very _Chat Noir_ smile on his lips as he looked back at her.

"Could you send it to me?" He asked Alya, she nodded as she put her phone back into her bag.

"Hey, you guys having a party without me?" It was Nino, Adrien turned to wave but still had his arm around Marinette, Nino stopped and looked the pair up and down.

"So this finally happened", he grinned,

"Finally!" Added Alya, giving Nino a peck on the cheek.

"Shall we go inside?" Laughed Adrien,

"I'm just happy that I don't have to listen to you going on anymore", continued Nino,

"Tell me about it", sighed Alya,

"The past two day's it's been Marinette this and Marinette that",

"Two days? Try two years!" Argued Alya,

"Two years?" Asked Adrien, raising his eyebrow at Marinette,

"Can we change the subject please?" Asked Marinette, flashing Alya a warning glare.

As they passed into the classroom there were a few students already in, stood around or sitting on tables chatting, Adrien took his seat and pulled Marinette onto his lap, Nino sat in the chair behind and Alya sat on the desk in front of him.

"So does this mean we can all go to the school dance together?" Asked Alya,

"I'd almost forgotten about the end of term dance, with all the revision and tests, it slipped my mind", said Marinette,

"Mine too, good to know I'll have the best looking date at the dance though", added Adrien,

"We shall have to agree to disagree, Amigo", said Nino, kissing Alya's hand.

"There are way too many cheesy compliments flying around today", laughed Alya, "let's all just calm down".

The first bell sounded and the teacher entered the room,

"Everyone take your seats!"

"Can't your seat be here for the day?" Asked Adrien as Marinette made to rise,

"It's a nice idea but I don't want to get killed by another Akuma attack", Marinette whispered, motioning her head across the room. Adrien looked up to see Chloe Bourgeoise staring at them both, her face purple with rage, and behind her sat Nathaniel, he wasn't looking however she wondered if that was due to running out of a building yesterday and leaving Marinette trapped inside.

Adrien released Marinette's waist and she went back to her seat behind him as Nino went to his beside Adrien and Alya jumped down from the desk to sit next to Marinette.

"This is weird", Alya said,

"How do you mean?" Asked Marinette,

"You're with Adrien, I'm with Nino, Paris is safe, Chloe's pissed off, everything is right with the world… feels too good to be true",

"And now you've jinxed it", laughed Marinette.

At lunch time Marinette said goodbye to Adrien who usually had to go home to eat and headed to her locker, once she'd deposited her things inside she closed the door to find she was face to face with Chloe and Sabrina.

"Chloe!" She said startled,

"I don't know how you tricked my Adrikins into giving you so much as a glance but mark my words, this isn't over!" Chloe spat, stamping her foot.

"Chloe, I know this won't change anything but I really am sorry if this has upset you, I promise that was never my intention", replied Marinette,

"Oh, shut up!" Snapped Chloe, "You've always been jealous of me, well if you think I'm going to let you steal my boyfriend without a fight then you're crazy",

"Chloe, he's not your boyfriend", said Marinette calmly,

"Well he would have been!"

"I have to go meet Alya", sighed Marinette, as she walked away, Lilla Rossi was walking toward them, watching the exchange with intrigue on her face.

"What was that about?" She asked Chloe, once Marinette was out of earshot.

"That little tramp has stolen my Adrien from me!" Said Chloe, tears springing in her eyes,

"Adrien… and her?" Asked Lilla, turning to motion down the hall where Marinette had been,

"Can you believe it? She must have drugged him or something",

"I'm sure it won't last long", added Sabrina but Chloe just scowled at her.

"Come on! I need to talk to my daddy!" Chloe headed off, followed by Sabrina as Lilla watched them go.

Once lunchtime was almost over Lilla was waiting on the school steps, reading one of her books, Adrien's limo pulled up and she stood up, pretending to be engrossed in her book.

"Bye!" Adrien called to his driver as he ran up the stairs, at that moment Lilla collided with Adrien, letting her self stumble forward, dropping her book. Adrien caught her with cat like reflexes and pulled her back to her feet.

"Careful Lilla!" He warned,

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I get totally caught up when I'm revising", she lied, stooping to pick up her book.

"Here, let me help", said Adrien, picking up her bag and handing it to her,

"Thanks Adrien", said Lilla, putting her bag onto her shoulder, "you've always been a good friend".

Adrien smiled and nodded and turned to continue inside when Lilla grabbed his hand.

"Adrien, can I ask, if you're free, maybe we could go to the school dance together?" Lilla suggested,

"Oh, thank's Lilla, but I already have a date", he shrugged,

"Oh… I see, never mind then", she pulled her hand away and watched Adrien go back inside then smiled to herself, looking at the ring in her hand that she'd slipped off his finger.


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn't until Adrien had gotten home that it happened, he got three wheels of camembert out of the fridge in the kitchen and had headed to his room, put his bag down and said,

"Here you are Plagg", but there had been no answer.

"Come on Plagg, you can't be sleeping again?" He'd opened his bag and looked inside but saw nothing, no sign of his kwami, just his books.

His first instinct had been to activate his powers knowing that Plagg was automatically pulled to the magical ring when he did so but looking down he realised that was not going to be possible.

Adrien turned pale, he felt sick, had Hawkmoth stolen it from under his nose, had he dropped it, how could he not notice it was missing? He began scouring the floor, retracing his steps through the house until he bumped into someone, he looked up in frustration but his expression changed when he realised the person in front of him was his father.

"Father!" Said Adrien, shocked,

"Adrien, what are you doing?" Asked Gabriel Agreste, his hands held behind his back, his face blank of emotion.

"I… lost something", replied Adrien, "I haven't seen you for ages",

"Yes, I've been busy with the new line, we'll have things ready for a new shoot by next week", Mr Agreste explained,

"Yes father", said Adrien, looking down disappointed.

"But I didn't come to discuss work right now", continued Mr Agreste,

"You didn't?" Adrien couldn't help but to sound hopeful, he couldn't remember the last time his father spoke to him about anything but work.

"I have had a call from Mayor Bourgeoise, he has explained that as part of our invitation to his daughter's birthday party you will be expected to be her escort",

"But father", cut in Adrien, "I can't escort Chloe, I have a girlfriend",

"The girl who left when I asked to meet her before?" Mr Agreste raised an eyebrow again, "well I hardly see how that is relevant, we have been invited as guests by a close, personal friend of the family",

"But Father, escorting Chloe is basically being her date", complained Adrien,

"That is enough! I do not care about the inane and quite frankly, boring complexities of teenage love lives, you operate in higher circles than the children you associate with Adrien, you must do what is expected of you, you only need spend one evening with the girl and attempt to be well mannered around her in general day to day life, aside from that I don't much care what girls you want to see… though I'd prefer it if you could choose one with good breeding, poor manners wouldn't make for good publicity".

"And if I refuse?" Adrien asked, his father scowled at him.

"If you refuse you can say good bye to public school, if you refuse you can say good bye to the little girlfriend and that boy you go to the arcade with, you will live in this house under close guard, you will be escorted to your photoshoots and you will be escorted home again", Mr Agreste spoke softly but there was rage in his voice.

"Yes father", Adrien said eventually, between gritted teeth,

Mr Agreste turned to leave but paused briefly to speak,

"And Adrien? Don't ever try to test me again, you will lose".

Adrien kept searching for his ring, he questioned all the staff, checked the limousine and the driveway, eventually he tried to get his driver to take him back to the school pretending to have left his phone but the school was closed and it was the weekend.

Lilla sat in her room with the ring in her hand, would she wait until she went back to school to return his ring or maybe she could go to his house this weekend, she could go late at night, be alone with him in his room, think of a reason to stay…

"Who are you?" Came a voice, Lilla shrieked and almost dropped the ring, looking up into the green eyes of what looked like a tiny floating cat.

"What the hell are you?" She squealed,

"Well that's rude! What the hell are you doing with Adrien's ring?" Plagg demanded,

Lilla stared at him, wide eyed, was she going mad?

"I'll… answer you… if you… answer me…" she breathed, trying to stay calm, "What are you?"

"Well I'm only answering because you've got the ring", huffed Plagg, "I'm a kwami",

"And… what is a kwami?"

"I'm like a magical being, okay?" Plagg wished he could refuse to speak to her, he was trying to be a vague as possible but the owner of the ring was… well, the owner of the ring and he had to be loyal to them.

"Magical… what do you do?" Lilla pressed,

"I'm the… I'm basically the thing that make's… Chat Noir into Chat Noir, okay?"

"One minute", said Lilla, pausing to think, "are you telling me that Adrien Agreste in Chat Noir?"

"Well no, not right now he isn't, you've got his ring!" Shouted Plagg, "and if you don't give it back and there's an Akuma attack, a lot of people could be in a lot of trouble!"

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm going to do with it", Lilla smiled to herself.

"I don't like the look of that smile", replied Plagg, frowning.

Marinette had been to the cinema's with Alya and then helped do some cleaning in the bakery as her parents shut down for the day.

"Do you want to take any of these pastries for your friends?" Asked her mother, "they'll just be thrown away otherwise".

"Thanks mum, I'll put them in some Tupperware and share them with someone tomorrow", Marinette smiled, heading into the kitchen and pulling out a plastic box.

Just then Marinette's phone began to ring,

"It's Adrien!" Beamed Marinette,

"Adrien Agreste?" Asked her father,

"Yes… we're kind of… seeing each other",

"You and Adrien Agreste?" Asked her mother,

"I have to answer the phone, just a second, Hello?" Marinette said, turning to look at her parents who were still staring at her.

"Marinette, I have a kind of absolutely huge problem", Adrien began,

"Why, what's happened?"

"I might have somehow lost my ring",

"Your ring?" Marinette looked at her parents again who were smiling at her as though she were the most exciting thing they have ever witnessed, "mum, dad, could you give me some privacy please?"

"Sorry", they both said, reluctantly leaving the kitchen.

"You've lost your miraculous!" She said, as soon as she was sure they were gone,

"I don't know how it happened!" Adrien continued, "But I'm calling you because you seem to have always been close to ladybug, I thought maybe you'd have a way to contact her?"

"Oh… I might, I'll try, okay?" Marinette stuttered, unsure of exactly how to reply,

"There is one other thing", Adrien said,

"What is it?"

"Well, it's stupid really but my dad promised the mayor I'd be Chloe's escort at her fancy party tomorrow, I tried to decline but my dad made it pretty clear that wasn't an option", he explained.

"Oh… well I suppose… what does an escort do exactly?" Inquired Marinette, trying to hide the displeasure in her voice.

"Nothing really, I walk her into the room, stand around with her, maybe dance…",

"Hmmm, right, sounds… fine", Marinette lied, "it's fine, I'm fine with it",

"Are you sure? Because you're saying the word _fine_ a lot",

"Because I'm fine", answered Marinette with as light a tone as she could manage.

"Okay… well let me know if you manage to contact Ladybug anyway, I'll keep searching at my end, just have to hope there's no Akuma attacks in the mean time!"

"Yeah, I hope it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, I'd better go, I'll talk to you later",

"Okay, bye Marinette",

"Bye Adrien".

She hung up the phone and let out a long sigh, there was no time to lose, she had to get looking for his Miraculous straight away, hopefully Hawkmoth hadn't been the one to steal it.

"Tiki", she said, opening her purse,

"What is it Marinette? I was napping",

"We have a problem, Chat Noirs Miraculous is missing",

"Oh no!" exclaimed Tiki, "that's not a problem, that's a disaster! The power of destruction in the wrong hands is just an evil force waiting to be unleashed, we must find it, right now!"

"I agree, first I'd better go to my room".

Once Marinette was transformed she left by her balcony and set out across Paris, she didn't even know where to start.

"Maybe the school", she thought to herself, he had it this morning and he was checking the house so assuming he'd been nowhere else the school grounds were the best place to start.

She landed, with a forward roll, onto the school roof and looked around.

"Hello, Ladybug", came a voice,

"Who's there!?" Demanded Ladybug, she scanned the roof top again when someone stepped out from behind an electrical block.

The woman was a little taller than Marinette, dressed head to foot in black leather with a belt, hanging like a tail behind her, a golden bell around her neck and a pair of pointed ears.

"Who are you?" Demanded Marinette, looking at Adrien's ring on the girl's finger,

"I'd hoped you'd come", said the girl, "I figured the first place he'd want to look was at the school and seeing as he has a super hero best friend, I figured he'd ask you".

"Well I came… not what?" Asked Marinette, the girl smiled and flicked her long hair back.

"I just wanted to return Adrien's ring to him", she said, "You do want it, don't you?"

"What's the catch?" Marinette was standing with her feet slightly apart, her yoyo in one hand, held at the ready to strike if need be.

"Well at first, I was just going to use it as an excuse to speak to him but then, when I found out what it was, I thought with something so important, I could probably get him to do anything I wanted to get it back, but that's no good really, I don't want him to hate me. Then I thought I could tell Marinette I'd give it back if she dumped him but I couldn't guarantee that she even knew his identity or that she'd care enough to do what I asked… but you, well I'm guessing you must care a great deal about Chat Noir", she smiled Evilly.

"So, what are you going to ask me to do for you?" Ladybug looked at her questioningly,

"I want you to force Marinette Dupain-Cheng, to brake Adrien's heart",

"What? Why? How could I force someone to even do something so awful?"

"I don't really care", replied Lilla, "I want Adrien and I can't have Adrien while he's all loved up with that nerdy, little, nobody, but he'll be easy pickings if he's heart broken. You make the mess and I will swoop in and make it all better, instant love", Lilla smiled at her plan, Ladybug stared at her, open mouthed.

"I can't force Marinette to dump her boyfriend, anyway, if you like Adrien why would you be okay with hurting him?"

"I'm not hurting him, you are", Lilla replied, "It's what you're good at, remember, when you ruined my chances with him before?"

"Lilla? Oh no, this isn't Adrien's fault, this is my fault, don't punish him for it, I told you, I was sorry for that",

"Sorry? I don't think sorry is going to make me Adrien's girlfriend", Lilla growled, "You will force Marinette to dump Adrien, and it has to be bad, in front of everyone, or I will reveal his identity to the papers and if you tell him it was me, I'll reveal his identity to the papers, if you so much as think about messing this up, in anyway, I will reveal him! Best hurry up and make a decision, I have an email all set, it's going to automatically send in half an hour unless I'm home to stop it".

"Okay Lilla, you win", Ladybug sighed, "If you return Adrien's Miraculous then I'll do as you ask",

"Good", Lilla removed the ring and returned to her usual form, she stepped forward and dropped it into Ladybug's outstretched hand, "nice doing business with you, Ladybug".


	9. Chapter 9

"Marinette, you can't let Lilla black mail you", said Tiki, her face was a picture of concern, despite the cookie crumbs around her mouth.

"I don't know what to do Tiki, I can't force Lilla to be quiet and I can't talk her out of it either, she's had it in for Ladybug ever since I hurt her chances with Adrien… looks like I'm paying the price for my jealous behaviour", Marinette sighed,

"Couldn't you just tell Adrien what's going on?" Tiki suggested, "he wouldn't have to tell Lilla he knew anything",

"I've thought about it Tiki, I've thought about telling him, about faking a break up, about pushing Lilla off something high… at the end of the day it's too much of a risk. If she found out, if he was put in danger because of me… I want to find a way around this, I really do, but I know deep down if I really care for Adrien I wouldn't put what I want before his safety", Marinette sat on the edge of her bed and put her head in her hands.

"Marinette… are you crying?" Asked Tiki,

"Sorry Tiki, I'm trying not to… I just waited so long for this… I never even stopped to imagine how it would feel to lose it", she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and sniffled, "I can't even talk to my best friend about it because I have to keep everything a secret and I can't talk to Adrien", her voice was breaking as she spoke and Tiki floated over to sit on her shoulder, leaning in to hug the side of her face.

"There, there Marinette, it's going to be okay, I know it looks bad right now but you'll see, in the end it'll work out, it always does", Tiki soothed,

"I don't want to have to hurt him… especially not in front of a crowd…",

"Did she tell you how long you have?" Tiki asked,

"No, but I think I'll have to move fast, I don't want to risk Hawkmoth discovering Adrien's Identity and getting to him before I'm able to fix things",

"Where did you put Chat's ring?"

"It's in my bag", replied Marinette,

"In your bag?" Tiki looked shocked,

"What's the matter?" Asked Marinette,

"Well… I don't want to alarm you Marinette, but Adrien's Miraculous has a kwami, just as your does and if he's in your bag, I'm afraid your identity might be somewhat compromised", Tiki explained.

"What did you have to tell her that for?" Came a small voice, Marinette's head whipped around to her bag on her desk.

"Who's there?" She asked, just then a small black cat floated from the bag and grinned at Marinette,

"So, you're Ladybug huh? Well, things make a lot more sense now… and get a lot more complicated", he said,

"Hello", answered Marinette in surprise, "I suppose you heard everything we just said?"

"I might have", he admitted,

"Plagg, it's bad manners to eaves drop!" Tiki scolded,

"Don't act like you're not happy to see me, you know you've missed me", Plagg answered,

"Well I'm sure you know we're in a bit of trouble then?" Marinette continued,

"Yeah, sounds like we are", nodded Plagg, "that Lilla chick is bad news, I reckon she'd drop Adrien in it in a heartbeat if she didn't get her own way",

"So, what do we do?" Asked Tiki,

"I don't like it you guys, but we're going to have to just do as she says until we can find a way out of it, but I do have one favour to ask… Plagg was it?"

"That's the name", Plagg grinned,

"I know you and Adrien must be close Plagg, and he's about to lose a friend after I do what I have to do… I need you to keep my identity to yourself, just for now, not forever, I couldn't stand the idea of him loosing me _and_ Ladybug all in one day", Marinette asked.

"I don't like the idea of lying to Adrien", Plagg frowned,

"I know, I wouldn't ask if our friendship didn't keep all of Paris safe, but I need him to trust me when we fight",

"It's not as simple as that Marinette, a kwami can't lie to the holder of the miraculous", Tiki explained,

"But he doesn't have to say anything if he isn't asked… do you?" She turned to Plagg who shook his head,

"then, if it's okay… would you help me?"

"…okay", agreed Plagg, "but I want it to go on record that I think this whole thing is a bad idea!"

"Thank you Plagg", Marinette kissed him on the cheek and watched his cheeks blush pink which made Tiki giggle.

"So… you got any cheese?"

It was the night of the party, Adrien had tried ringing Marinette but she hadn't answered and now he was out of time, being driven to the Mayor's hotel. The irony that he'd been forced to go and escort Chloe Bourgeoise and his father had cancelled at the last minute, so now he had to go alone, like everything else in his life, and he didn't even have Marinette.

He was worried she was upset with him about escorting Chloe, she hadn't spoken to him since their phone call except a text that said "Ladybug's on it", he assumed that meant Ladybug was searching for his miraculous because Marinette hadn't responded to his following texts.

"We're here", said Nathalie,

"Great", answered Adrien, sarcastically.

They got out of the limo and stepped inside, it was grandly decorated with plenty of well-dressed people, milling about here and there, drinking and eating hors d'oeuvres.

"I'd better head up", Adrien said in a flat tone,

"Try to cheer up", suggested Nathalie, "It's a party, and it'll be over soon",

"But I'll still be missing my ring", he mumbled as he walked away.

Marinette had to become Ladybug to get inside, she was upstairs looking for the toilets so she could change when she bumped into Adrien.

"My Lady", was the first thing he said, "I mean, your lady… I mean, Ladybug, nice to see you",

"Oh… hello Adrien, how are you?" She asked, feeling rather awkward.

"Fine, well after a full evening of pretending to enjoy the party I might be less fine, but fine for now", he smiled.

"Good… good, well I hope it isn't too bad", she said, starting to move away again, "have a good evening", she waved as she ran off down the hall, her heart pounding.

Once in the bathroom, she changed back, leaning against a wall and sinking down to the ground.

"Marinette, are you okay?" Asked Tiki,

"No… I don't know if I can do this", she replied,

"I know, it's not nice but you can explain to him after we can think of a way to defeat Lila, for now, we just have to do what we need to do to protect Chat Noir", Tiki replied.

Marinette nodded and wiped a single tear away then heard music playing.

"Sounds like it's starting", she stood up and headed for the door, looking out to see Chloe in a blue gown, standing at the top of the stairs and waving to the people below with Adrien on her arm doing his best "for the camera" smile.

"Thank you everyone for coming!" Began Chloe, "Me and Adrien are very happy to receive you all and don't forget we have a separate room for gifts to make sure we can fit them all in", she beamed.

"Adrien Agreste!" Adrien and Chloe turned to see Marinette marching toward them,

"As if! What are you doing here?" Screeched Chloe,

"To give Adrien this", Marinette held out the ring and dropped it into Adrien's hands,

"My ring!" He smiled, "Where did you find it?"

"Never mind that", replied Marinette, as angrily as she could manage for the crowd, she looked out and saw Lila standing there, watching with a satisfied smile, "I can't believe that you'd go on a date with Chloe when you're supposed to be my boyfriend!"

"Marinette, I told you, I had to come", Adrien protested,

"Because he loves me of course", Chloe assured the crowd,

"Well I'm done… I hate you Adrien!" She looked at Lila again who looked positively gleeful, "And… I never want to see you again!" She'd burst into tears and ran down the stairs and through the crowd leaving Adrien standing there, a look of absolute shock on his face.

"Marinette!" He shouted as she went through the doors,

"Don't worry about her Adrikins, you've always got me", said Chloe, trying to put her arms around his neck.

Adrien pulled her off and stormed away, heading into the toilets and locking the door.

He checked that the window was wide enough to fit through before putting on his ring and before Plagg had the chance to say a thing he said, "Claws out!" And disappeared into the night.

He'd looked for her but she was nowhere to be found, not at her house, not at Alya's, not at the arcade.

What had happened? He'd talked to her, she'd said she was fine, and now she hated him? How could she hate him? He'd cared about her so much, everything had been fine and now she'd dumped him in a room full of people. He was so hurt, he felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest, he felt like screaming.

"Hello Chat Noir, I am Hawkmoth", came a voice, Chat didn't know where it was coming from but he was overcome with a sense of power, a feeling of pure fury and hatred for everyone who had ever hurt him.

"Hello Hawkmoth", Chat replied,

"I would usually give someone the power to reap revenge but I offer you an improvement on your current powers, big, faster, stronger, what do you say? Panthere Noir?"

"I say, what are we waiting for?" replied Chat, a smirk on his lips,

"But first you must promise to help me get Ladybug's Miraculous and in exchange for yours I can give you even greater powers",

"I promise", said Adrien.

In the dark Attic Hawkmoth laughed, surely now he would win.


	10. Chapter 10

"It's been three hours Marinette, how long are you planning on sitting alone in the park?" Asked Tiki,

"I suppose he's probably realised I'm not home by now", Marinette sighed, "I just know if I see him and he tells me he doesn't want to break up I won't be able to turn him down again… that was the worst thing I've ever had to do".

"And you did it for him, don't forget that",

"I couldn't even look him in the eyes, I was scared to see how much hurt I'd caused… or to see he hated me",

"Of course he doesn't hate you, he's Chat Noir, he's Adrien, he's a good person and he'll understand when all of this is over and you can explain", Tiki reassured her.

"Let's go home", Marinette said, sounding unconvinced.

When Marinette got in her parents were watching the television,

"Mari, is that you?" Asked her mother,

"Yeah mum, it's just me", she replied.

"We were worried", her mum said, walking toward her, "Adrien came round, he'd said you'd had an argument?"

"Oh… kind of, I don't really want to go into it right now", Marinette said, shaking her head.

"Well, I'm just glad you're home", said her dad, "with what's going on out there right now, I was about to go looking for you".

"What do you mean?" Asked Marinette,

"Well look", said her dad, pointing to the TV.

Marinette took a seat and watched.

There was a birds-eye view of the school, at least of where the school should have been, instead it was a hole filled with what looked like rust.

"Oh my god… Chat", Marinette breathed to herself, recognising the tell-tale signs of Chat's destructive powers.

"This is just one such site", said the news reader, "hundreds were forced to evacuate the Bourgeoise Hotel only an hour ago after someone or something used the same strange power to bring the building down. There have been at least ten casualties and further damage leading away from the building and ending at the school",

"Who would do something so awful?" Asked Marinette's mother, shaking her head,

"Police officials are saying that we can only assume this is another Akuma attack but eye witnesses have stated that the villain was briefly spotted, looking very similar to our own Chat Noir", continued the TV.

"Surely not", grumbled Marinette's father,

An image showed up on the screen, it was slightly blurred but seemed to be a man all in black, with black cat's ears. He didn't look like Adrien though, he was taller, had slightly broader shoulders and his hair looked dark though it was difficult to tell by the poor quality in the picture.

"This image was captured by CCTV only moments ago, as you can see, it bears a striking resemblance to the well-known hero. Ladybug has not been spotted as yet but the worried public continue to watch the roof tops in hope".

Marinette jumped up and turned to her room,

"I'm going to go lie down, it's been a long day, see you both in the morning", she said, running up the steps to the sound of her parents "good night's".

"Tiki, we have to help Chat", Marinette said, opening her purse,

"Is Chat the attacker, Marinette?"

"No, it didn't look like him, it must be an imposter, but he was in the building, he could be one of the injured or he could be out there, looking for the imposter himself, either way I need to find him",

"Okay", Tiki squeaked, fusing with Marinette's earrings.

When Marinette left she heard screaming immediately, she followed the sound to the arcade, half of the building was in ruins, there were police cars and people being pulled from the rubble, who-ever was doing this was stronger than any threat she'd seen before and obviously didn't care about hurting anyone. She swung down to the wreckage and approached an officer who seemed overcome with relief at the sight of her.

"Ladybug! Thank god, what-ever this is I don't think any of us would be a match for it", the officer said,

"Have you seen it? Do you know where it's gone or may be headed?" She asked,

"I did see it, only briefly though, it's dressed as Chat Noir but it's faster, much faster and it's bigger too", he explained.

"Have you seen Chat anywhere?" Marinette asked,

"No, sorry Ladybug, we were hoping you'd have seen him",

"I'm sure he'll be along soon, in the mean time I need to find who ever this is, where ever he is and trap his Akuma, any clue at all would be much appreciated",

"I really couldn't say", the officer said, rubbing the back of his neck, thinking hard, "he was just a blur when he moved, he could have gone anywhere".

"I haven't gone anywhere", came a deep voice, Marinette looked up, stood on top of the police car, where seconds ago there had been no one, was the villain.

He looked exactly like Chat Noir only his bell was missing and he was taller, broader and more muscled. His suit seemed to be armoured on the chest and in places down the arms and legs, all sculpted to the lines of his muscles and his hands ended in large, vicious looking claws, much crueller than the small cat claws of Chat. His hair had turned almost purple black and looked messier, more jagged, not to mention the small fangs that were only visible on Chat when he smiled were longer, and the canines on the bottom were spiked too. His voice was masculine and unfeeling, it had none of Chat's humour, just ice and danger.

Ladybug stared at his face, it was so hard to tell beneath the mask who he could be but he looked so much like the real Chat in his features that she almost didn't know what to say.

"Who are you?" She demanded,

"My Lady, I'm hurt that you'd have to ask", he grinned, showing all of his pointed teeth,"

Ladybug gasped, surely it couldn't be him?

"You're not Chat Noir", she replied, clenching her fists, "he doesn't hurt innocent people!"

"Innocent?" He asked, "No one is innocent", he began walking down the car toward her, cracking the windshield as he went, "they're all rotten… inside… you think that they're pure and kind, you think that they care… but when they're bored of you, when they don't need you, you're just in the way… but you're right, I'm not Chat Noir",

Ladybug felt herself flooded with relief, it wasn't her Adrien,

"I am Panthere Noir and Chat is dead".

"Is it possible for Chat Noir to be Akumatized?" Whispered the officer, still standing beside her,

Marinette looked into Chat's formerly big green eyes but they weren't green anymore, then were a fiery orange and his lips were twisted into a cruel smile.

"What have I done?" she said, her eyes widening in realisation.

"What? No witty come back?" He asked,

"Chat… is it really you?" She asked, stepping forward,

"Chat was weak, he stood by idol while everyone did as they pleased, toying with his happiness and then leaving him to rot as soon as the game was done, Chat is gone now",

"No!" Ladybug shouted, "Chat was not weak, he was kind and brave and loyal and those things made him the strongest person I know!"

Panthere laughed in a cold, empty way, amused by her obvious distress,

"He was a _pathetic_ sidekick! He couldn't even stop an Akuma without you",

"He was my friend!" Ladybug retaliated,

"You didn't even know he existed", replied Panthere giving her a derisive look, "you spurned his obvious affections for you every day, and the sad thing is you still treated him better than everyone else, the best he could hope for was being shunned by you".

"It's not true, I cared for Chat, I still care for Chat",

"Well it's a shame you'll never be able to tell him, and now if you don't mind, I'm trying to find someone, I'd rather not kill you", he flicked his wrist and his hand burst into blue flame that licked at his knife like claws.

"Chat, please, don't do this, we can fix everything, we just need to find Lila", Ladybug began,

"Lila? Well I'm not sure what she has to do with anything but I believe she was crushed beneath the rubble of the hotel", he spoke slowly and without remorse,

"I won't let you go and hurt anyone else", Ladybug said, stepping forward,

In a flash, he was in front of her, close enough at she could feel the heat of the fire in his hand,

"You can-not stop me", he stated, "you aren't as strong as me anymore", and before she could react, he was gone.


	11. Chapter 11

"Where could he be going?" She asked herself, "who could he be looking for?"

She knew who he was, he was Adrien Agreste, he'd destroyed the hotel first after being forced to go there, forced to escort Chloe who's birthday he had destroyed and most probably landed her in the hospital. He'd gone on to destroy the school… she couldn't think why, there was no one there, it was the weekend and Adrien was popular at school. Thirdly he'd taken down the arcade, who could he have been trying to hurt this time? Her eyes widened in shock, was it her? He'd already gone to her house and found she wasn't there, the only other places she really went was the arcade, the park… and Alya's house!

Quick as a flash she set off, running until her limbs hurt, flying so fast through the air on her yoyo that her eyes watered, if he harmed Alya or any of her family how could she live with herself? She'd spent so long worrying about what Lila would do that she'd blindly gone along with the plan, forgetting Hawkmoth's power thrived on pain and misery, this was all her fault.

"What are you doing?" Shouted the voice of Hawkmoth in Panthere's head, "you had Ladybug before you and you left without her Miraculous!"

"Patience", replied Panthere, "you will have your prize as soon as I have mine",

"That was not the deal we made", snapped Hawkmoth, "first I am to be given the Miraculouses, then you get to reap your revenge!"

The attic shook, Hawkmoth looked around as his butterflies skittered about in the light, their white wings almost flashing as they flapped in the glow of moon light from the circular window. There was a loud bang and the attic shook again like a wrecking ball was hitting the side of the building.

Hawkmoth clicked his fingers and was transformed back into Gabriel Agreste, his crisp, black suit turning white. He crossed the room to the door and held out his hand when suddenly, with a deafening bang, the cool metal of the reinforced door bent inward as though it had been struck from the other side.

Mr Agreste jumped back, staring at it in horror, another bang caused a second dent, Mr Agreste backed up against the wall, the door was hit a third time and fell in. When the dust settled the silhouette of Panthere Noir stepped into the light, he looked at Gabriel and smiled in an unfriendly manner.

"Oh my god", Gabriel said, "how did you find me?"

"How did I find you?" Asked Panthere, "Where else would I find you? Broken, grieving husband, missing his wife so deeply that he locks himself away… cold, unfeeling father, resenting his son so deeply that he leaves him alone to face life like an orphan".

Gabriel didn't know what to say, how would Chat Noir know such intimate things about his personal life and why would he care?

"Why are you here?" He tried to keep his voice steady but Panthere could hear the fear,

"I got fed up of waiting for _you_ to come to _me_ , father", replied Panthere,

Gabriel's eyes grew wide, his mouth hung open, aghast,

"Adrien?"

"Adrien is gone now", Panthere replied, "he starved to death waiting for his fill of affection from you",

"I love my son", argued Gabriel,

"You keep him, trapped like a bird in a gilded cage, work him day in and day out, deny him friends and freedom, love or happiness, you neglect his feelings, his cares, you speak to him like he were beneath you and you call this love?"

"I keep him safe… the only way I know how",

"It seems your methods are somewhat lacking", growled Panthere,

"Right, that is enough, you will take off that ring and show your father some respect!" Gabriel shouted.

Panthere didn't change his expression, he merely approached slowly, flexing his rapier claws and watching Gabriel the way a cat watches a mouse until the pair were face to face, then with speed so immense Gabriel didn't realise until it was too late, he plunged his hand into his father's stomach, his claws slicing through flesh like a razor through water.

Gabriel screamed, his hands gripping onto the arm protruding from his abdomen, staring into the orange eyes of his son.

Panthere lifted him off his feet causing Gabriel to cry out and squirm, blood pouring onto the attic floor.

"Don't ever test me again", Panthere said in a low, malicious voice, "You will not win!"

Ladybug had been awash with relief and joy when she'd realised Alya was safe and had found it hard to speak around Alya's excited chatter and attempts at photographs.

"Alya, you must listen!"

"Sorry Ladybug", Alya had beamed,

"I have reason to believe you are in danger, the Dupain-Cheng's too, I need you to call them, tell them I already have Marinette and she's safe but you must all go to the police station, tell them Ladybug sent you and find somewhere safe to spend the night", Ladybug explained.

"Is it an Akuma?" Asked Alya,

"Yes", answered Ladybug, "a bad one, everyone in your class could be in danger, call your boyfriend, whoever you can think of, Chloe and Lila are already in hospital".

"Oh my god!" Exclaimed Alya, "I'll do it right away, thankyou Ladybug and good luck!"

Ladybug nodded and headed off again, the only other place she could think of was Adrien's own house.

When she arrived the front gate was missing, destroyed by Panthere's increased powers of destruction, it didn't seem to drain his Kwami with Hawkmoths power behind it. She walked past the broken front doors and into the dark manor, there was destruction everywhere, he'd smashed and torn his way through the house, even the hanging of his family had four long slashes going through it diagonally, she noticed he had only cut himself and his father though, leaving the image of his mother intact. She climbed the stairs, stopping when she saw the slumped over body of one of the security team, she rolled him over only to realise he had a hole going through his body that she hadn't noticed in the dark. It looked like Chat's destruction power and made Marinette leap back and she had to stifle a scream.

"What has Hawkmoth turned you into?" She said, tears springing in her eyes, she wiped them away briskly, hardening her resolve and began running up the stairs, determined to find and save the boy she loved.

His bedroom was empty as were the other rooms on that floor, she climbed higher but again had no luck but there was a lift door that had been broken and smashed, even the brick wall around it was broken, crumbling into pieces. She stepped inside and looked up where the roof had been removed and skilfully threw her yoyo upward, wrapping it around the mechanism at the top and pulling herself up. At the top was a narrow hallway with an open door at the end, white light emitted from it and she headed toward it, pausing when she heard voices.

"You can't do this", came a small, wheezing voice, it sounded as though the speaker was struggling to make a sound.

"Why?" It was Panthere's voice this time, still emotionless and empty,

"I am your father!" Marinette moved closer, looking in through the door carefully,

"I have no father, your son is dead",

Marinette saw Gabriel Agreste, he was on the floor at Panthere's feet, blood pooling around him,

"Please!" Gabriel cried out.

"Hello Ladybug", Panthere said, without turning, she gasped and froze on the spot, "my hearing is so refined I could tell you were coming as soon as you made a sound on the bottom floor stairs, I assume you found Peter?"

"Was that the name of the man you killed?" She asked, her voice shaking,

"Yes", he replied without flinching,

"Adrien… this isn't who you are", she said, tears running down her face now, she didn't have the will to hold them back, she was afraid but mostly she was heartbroken, how could she save him?

"Adrien is dead", he said,

"I don't believe you",

There was a whooshing sound and he was in front of her, looking down with something akin to fascination.

"You believe what you want to believe", he said, "you believe what is easiest for you, what would be the point if you couldn't save him and cleanse the Akuma within me? But my Akuma is in my ring and my ring is a Miraculous, indestructible, it cannot be released".

"How could you possibly know that?" She asked,

"My Kwami could not inhabit my Miraculous at the same time as the Akuma, forcing him to fuse with me, I know things about my powers I never dreamed of knowing", he explained, "I know if I took your miraculous from you then I would be the most powerful being in the world".

"And there would be no more Ladybug", Marinette replied, Panthere's eye seemed to twitch momentarily, like a sweeping emotion across his face, "does that bother you?" She asked.

"Why should it bother me?" He replied,

"You said it yourself, I have been the kindest person to you, I have always been your friend…"

"Adrien is dead", Panthere repeated, "I do not care for you",

"But you could have killed me earlier", she continued, "you could kill me now without a second to lose, I'd never be fast enough, you could rip my inside's out like you did to your father",

"I could", he sounded a little uneasy,

"You could use your Cataclysm to burn a hole through me like you did to Peter",

"Do you want me to kill you?" He asked.

"I thought it was you who wanted to kill me", she looked down to the blood dripping from his claws and swallowed, praying her risk would pay off.

"You're trying to goad me, it won't work", he moved away from her a little, he seemed to be clenching his jaw in frustration.

"But I'm starting to think you don't want to kill me", she said, "I think there's a part of you that knows who you are",

"Just because I haven't killed you doesn't mean you know what I'm thinking",

"No… it doesn't, but here's what I'm thinking… I'm going to go over there, pick up Mr Agreste and take him to the hospital and try to save his life because that's what super hero's do and if you chose to stop me… there's not much I can do about it", she stood as straight as she could, walking past him, her eyes on Gabriel.

Panthere watched her, he thought about stopping her but she was so fascinating, she knew he could destroy her without blinking but in she came, trusting that there was enough goodness inside of him to keep her safe, despite the things she'd seen. But wasn't that Ladybug? She always trusted him, she always had faith in him, even at his very worst.

She put Gabriel's arm over her shoulder and carried him as best as she could across the room while Panthere just stared, she lifted him over the crumpled metal of the doors and Panthere walked to the entrance to watch her drag him down the corridor, and as she got ready to lower herself and Mr Agreste down by her yoyo, she looked up at him, their eyes locked, and then she was gone.


	12. Chapter 12

Marinette arrived at the hospital, Gabriel Agreste over her shoulder, blood covering her back and chest.

"I need help!" She cried out, a nurse ran over immediately,

"Oh no, WE NEED A DOCTOR OVER HERE!" she shouted.

Various medical staff arrived, someone wheeled a bed over and Mr Agreste was laid down, the doctor took his pulse as someone attached an oxygen mask to his face.

"He's still with us, we need to get him into theatre immediately if we're going to save him!" Said the doctor as the staff began pushing him away and down the hall.

"Ladybug, are you injured?" Asked the nurse, looking at the blood.

Ladybug shook her head, she looked tired, her face was drawn and her eyes heavy,

"No, it's not my blood", she replied in a flat tone, "I need to ask, is everyone from the Bourgeoisie hotel okay, no fatalities I mean?"

"As far as I know there were a few broken bones, the Mayor and his daughter got out with just a few cuts and bruises, I think the worst of them is one girl who's in a coma", the nurse explained.

"A coma, who?" Asked Ladybug,

"A Lila Rossi, only sixteen, it's very sad", replied the nurse.

"I see…", Ladybug wasn't sure what to say except, "I should mention, the man I brought in, he's Gabriel Agreste".

"Oh, how awful!"

"I know, it's always awful when people get hurt",

"No, I mean, it's awful that he's in this condition, his son was at the Hotel you see, we still haven't recovered his body, it sounds like he had some kind of argument and went upstairs, we're fairly certain that he wouldn't have survived the collapse… to think if he pulls through the first thing he'll be told is that he's lost his son", the nurse sighed.

"It's a dark day for Paris", Ladybug agreed, "I'd better get back out there and see if I can fix things",

"Ladybug, before you go, it's not true is it, what they're saying about Chat, it's not him?"

"Chat Noir is the kindest and bravest friend I have ever had", Ladybug replied, at that moment she turned to leave but was faced with at least thirty news reporters, cameras pushed, frantically in her face.

"Ladybug, why is Chat Noir doing this?"

"Is it true Chat Noir has been Akumatized?"

"Do you know the whereabouts of Hawkmoth?

"Should the city be evacuated?"

"How many casualties will there have to be before you're willing to fight you're partner?"

"STOP!" Shouted Ladybug, the reporters grew silent and waited for her replies.

"Today Paris has seen a string of destructive attacks unlike anything we've been witness to so far, my Nemesis Hawkmoth seems to have found a way to create a stronger Akuma but I assure you all right now that Chat Noir is innocent. The villain may bare similarities to my team mate but Chat Noir is a force for good who has been taken captive by this villain. I swear to you all, I will do everything within my power to stop him and bring Chat home, in the meantime I urge the police and other officials not to engage this enemy, he has the power to destroy anything in his path, only my Miraculous is a match for him", she concluded, enjoying only a second of silence before the questions started up again but Ladybug walked confidently out of the building, flinging her yoyo high and swinging away.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Asked Tiki as she ate the cookie she'd been handed and watched Marinette pace back and forth in the alleyway.

"I need to see him Tiki", she said, her eyes downcast and her face a mixture of worry and fear.

"You saw him, Mari, what you need to do is get some rest and then face him with your Luckycharm",

"Is it true that Miraculouses are indestructible?" Marinette asked, ignoring Tiki's comment.

"… it's true", squeaked Tiki, "but you have no way of knowing that's where the Akuma is really hiding, I don't even know if that's possible",

"Do you know it's _im_ possible?" Marinette stopped and looked up hopefully at Tiki,

"No, I don't know that", confessed Tiki, "Akuma's aren't drawn to people with Miraculouses, the wearers are usually much stronger than normal people, their innate drive to do good over powering their pain or anger",

"So, I didn't just hurt him… I crushed him", Marinette nodded to herself, "I have to make this right Tiki".

"Marinette, Adrien is unstable right now, he's not just dangerous, he's murderous, what if he decides he actually wants to kill Ladybug?"

"I have to go to him",

"MARI NO! You're the girl who broke his heart, he'll destroy you without blinking and without your powers active you'll be a sitting duck!"

"Tiki… It's me he's looking for", Marinette looked up at her again, Tiki could see tears glistening at the corners of her eyes, "I'm the reason Lila's in a coma, I'm the reason god knows how many have been injured at the arcade, it's my fault the guard's dead!"

"Marinette, Adrien had father issues long before he met you, what happened at the house goes beyond a teenage breakup", Tiki soothed, floating over and stroking her hair.

"I know that Tiki, I think that's why it's all gone so bad… I had no idea he was so alone, when he said to me that the best he could hope for was being spurned by Ladybug… I just wanted to put my arms around him, I can't believe he thinks people care so little for him",

"Well perhaps he needs to know people care?"

"That's what I intend to do but it has to be me, the real me, and if he kills me… maybe that will satisfy his anger?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Tiki scolded, "Akuma's don't just disappear, you know they have to be cleansed, they're like an infection, left unchecked they spread and become more malignant",

"You mean he could get even worse?" Marinette asked, wide eyed,

"if Hawkmoth allows this to carry on for too long they can even drive the Akumatized person into madness, most people have their Akuma's removed within a day or two but with his speed and strength… I don't know how we could catch him. I'd suggest trapping him in some way but there's nothing he can't destroy with his power and without needing a recharge… I suppose we'd have to get closer to find a weakness, and using so much power will only speed up the time it takes an Akuma to have a bad effect on him".

"Then it's decided, I will go to him", Marinette said, turning on her heel and clenching her jaw in resolve,

"Marinette, I don't like it, he's not your Adrien anymore!"

"Yes, he is", Marinette replied, "And I'll die before I let him slip away forever".

Panthere Noir heard footsteps, his cat-like ears turned toward the sound, it seemed to be coming from outside, one person, small, he moved toward the staircase and watched the front door, whoever it was, was coming up the driveway, the pebbles crunched beneath their feet, their steps were slow and careful.

"Chat?" came a female voice, his eyes widened, it was her, after all his searching and she had come to him, "Adrien?", she spoke again.

She pushed the door and peered inside at the darkness, without the electric lights or the benefit of sunlight, all she could see was inky blackness.

Panthere watched her step into the dark, of course she couldn't see him, she didn't have the benefit of his night vision, she looked frightened, he wondered why she was here, had she spoken to Ladybug? He thought about killing her but that felt wrong for some reason, it bothered him.

"Adrien, are you here?" She asked in a nervous voice, suddenly there was a whoosh and she could see an even darker shape in the blackness in front of her with a pair of orange eyes, glowing a little in whatever residual light existed.

"Adrien is dead", came the deep, unfamiliar and cold voice of Panthere.

Marinette knew she wasn't supposed to have met him yet, she wasn't supposed to know who he was,

"What did you do to him?" She tried,

"It was you who did this", he replied, a hint of anger edging his tone.

"Because I broke your heart… because you're Adrien?" She asked,

"Because you were cruel!" He snapped back, "like the rest of them".

"I'm sorry", she breathed, she lifted her hand, very slowly, up toward Panthere's face, he stood, watching her in silence, "I didn't want to hurt you".

As her hand touched his skin he snatched her wrist, his claws cutting into her, making her scream in shock,

"You're a liar", he snarled, "I can see it now, looking at you", his grip tightened and she cried out again, "I can see you're full of lies!"

"Please, Chat, you're hurting me!"

He released her wrist forcefully, she couldn't tell if he'd done it because he hadn't meant to injure her or because he was just angry but he was staring at her with an expression of anger and hurt.

Marinette lifted her wrist to her face and tried to see the wounds,

"Don't you want to take this chance to run away?" He asked,

"No", she replied, "I came because I wanted to see you",

"Wasn't it only hours ago that you claimed you never wanted to see me again, that you hated me?"

"I had to say those things, I was being black mailed by Lila Rossi", she explained, "she had your miraculous, she threatened to reveal your identity!"

"Lila Rossi, the girl crushed beneath rubble, how convenient",

"No, she's alive… but in a coma…",

"And you expect me to believe you? Marinette the Liar, with her sweet, blue bell eyes and kind nature, and beneath it all she's the cruellest one",

"I am not a liar!" She shouted, "The only lie I ever told was that I hated you… Adrien… I love you",

Panthere laughed, throwing back his head then looking at her maniacally,

"Love she calls it, you all love me, deep down under all the hurt and the lies, you all love me, funny how easily you can tell me when your lives hang by a thread! But if you love me my dear, let's be together!",

"What do you mean?"

"You want to love me and be close to me, don't you? You want to save your darling Adrien from this wretched existence? Then come, we shall be together!"

He took a hold of her and dragged her up the stair case as Easily as he would a small child, Marinette struggled and twisted against his grip but it was futile, he was impossibly strong and the more she squirmed the more she felt her skin breaking under his claws.

"Enjoy your new life with your beloved!" He said before throwing her into one of the upstairs bedrooms, snatching her bag from her arm and slamming the door behind her. He was so strong that she practically flew across the room, hitting the wall and stumbling onto the ground, she hurriedly tried to pull herself to her feet and ran at the door to escape but as she slammed against it and began yanking at the handle, she heard the unmistakable sound of a key being twisted in a lock.

"ADRIEN!" She screamed, thumping her fists against the wood, "Adrien, let me out!" She pulled at the handle again and kicked the base but it was no good, it was a fire door, heavy and solid and without her bag containing the magical Kwami she required to transform, she wasn't sure her miraculous would work. And what if she used it, drawing Tiki from her hiding place, revealing her to Panthere and leaving her vulnerable? He could kill her or at least injure her, she was just a tiny creature, quite harmless without the Miraculous to fuse with and a warrior to fight for her.

She ran to the windows but much like the windows in Adrien's room they were large and only opened at the very top, a sheer drop down the side of the building, even if she could reach and climb through, which she couldn't.

She looked around, it was still dark which made it difficult to see much but in the centre of the room against the back wall was a large, four poster bed, the floor was carpeted with a thick, expensive feeling rug and there was a wardrobe and two bedside tables as well as a chest of drawers.

 _I have to save Tiki_ , she thought to herself, so without taking too much time to talk herself out of it Marinette began stripping sheet's off the bed and pulling clothes from drawers and the wardrobe, this must have been Nathalie's room because all of the clothes were for a woman. Taking great care to ensure the knots were as strong as she could manage, Marinette tied everything together, sheet's, pantyhose, duvet covers, shirts, trousers, anything that would lengthen the rope she was making. It took her a long time, she made two ropes and plaited them together to ensure strength if any of the knots failed and doubted if it would be long enough but she had to try.

Her hands were raw when she'd finished from all of the tugging and yanking but she pushed the wardrobe across the room and over to the large windows, it was incredibly heavy and she had to pull the draws from the bottom of it, she found herself wishing every five minutes for her powers to complete the task but if she had her powers she wouldn't need to be doing any of this. Once the wardrobe was against the window she began to climb with the rope over her shoulder, she reached high and on her tip toes was able to grab the window ledge and heave herself up.

"Okay, now don't fall", she whispered to herself, tying the rope onto the window catch and flinging the length of it out to hang down the side of the building. It was a dizzying height and she felt her heroism failing her as she looked at what would probably be the fall that killed her but thinking of Tiki being found, of Panthere being enraged by her lie on discovering she was Ladybug and taking a revenge like crushing Tiki, it made her sure she had to try.

"I can do this", she muttered, wrapping the rope around her hand and arm and lowering herself out carefully.

For a moment she just hung there, trying to get her feet against the building for some traction then very slowly she moved downward, she could already feel her grip slipping a little but she held on even tighter, until her fingers felt like they would break from the force.

"I'm not giving up on you Tiki", she said to motivate herself and edged down again, "I can do this".

Just then Marinette heard a slight ripping sound, she looked up and tried desperately to see what was happening in the dark but before she even had time to think she felt she had become weightless, the world was rushing past her upward and then she had stopped with a thud.

She turned and saw the orange eyes of Panthere, his muscled arms cradling her,

"You saved me", she gasped,

"You die when I decide you die", he growled, dropping her to the ground and taking a hold of her by the shirt, dragging her along side him, "It seems you can't be trusted to be left with luxuries such as windows",

"You're hurting me", protested Marinette as she was pulled along, he pressed forward meaningfully preventing her from getting a proper footing and causing her to trip and stumble.

"You keep saying that like it should matter to me", he replied, arriving at the garage.

There was a door in the floor which he pulled open, pushing Marinette down first, she tripped and landed hard at the bottom.

"If you don't care, why don't you just get it over with and kill me then?" She shouted, bursting into tears, "if Adrien's really gone and all that's left is a cruel monster, why are you keeping me alive?"

Panthere yanked her to her feet, it was a narrow corridor with a metal door at the bottom, leading, who knew where?

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, heaving open the door to a dank, stone room with thick metal bars across the middle of it. There was a barred door too, like a jail cell with a large, rusted key in the lock, he opened it then grabbed for her again but she moved back, trying to turn and escape her new cage. Panthere caught her by the hair, yanking it free of its ties and threw her inside, again she hit the wall but this time everything went black.

"To punish you", he concluded, to the unconscious Marinette, who lay unmoving on the cell floor.


	13. Chapter 13

Panthere sat alone in his room, he'd been hell bent on finding her, he knew that much, he was filled with anger toward her, every second it seemed to be becoming stronger but at the same time… the thought of killing her… it made him feel… strange… uncomfortable.

"She came here, she knew it was dangerous but she came looking for Adrien", he said to himself,

" _You don't know what she knew, she could have been here for any number of reasons, she wanted to hurt Adrien, humiliate him!"_ Came the other voice.

"She said she loves me", he replied, almost conversationally,

" _She is a liar!"_

"I've always felt like she was lying… like she was keeping something from me",

" _Because you've always known, deep down, who she really is, kill her!"_

"She said Lila was black mailing her",

" _She'd have said anything to manipulate you, she's the worst of them all_ ",

"Is she? What about my father… or Chloe?"

" _At least your father didn't pretend to be kind and sweet to twist your emotions and Chloe is a vapid, selfish creature, Marinette was the only one who tricked you, she deserves to suffer_ ".

"I… I know that… but I can't stop thinking about how I hurt her… how I threw her into that room and left her alone in the dark",

" _You have been alone in the dark far longer than she has, let her drown in it!"_

"I'll need to… I'll need to feed her at least, she's been down there for hours… I should bring water… until I decide how to proceed",

" _You're making excuses to see her, you want to free her, you want to let her get away with what she did!"_

"Shut up!" Panthere shouted, "I am in charge here, not you!

Marinette had awoken with a splitting pain in her head and icy cold, she'd blinked and then panicked, she could see absolutely nothing. She'd never known darkness like it, it was so black that it was almost tangible, as if she could reach out and touch it, it was like being blind and she worried secretly that perhaps she was, that hitting her head had done something to her optic nerves.

She'd called for help, feeling around for the bars, she felt out the door and found it was securely locked and then she'd screamed for Chat until her throat was raw but in the end, the darkness had begun to frighten her. Anyone could have been in there with her, anything, and she wouldn't know it, she'd retreated to a corner and curled up in a ball, willing herself to sleep to make time pass more quickly but too afraid to drift off.

By the time she'd heard the sound of a door opening she felt like she'd been down there for days, the light of the hall way flooded in and it burned her eyes.

"Adrien?" She squeaked in a tiny, broken voice,

He looked at her, she'd been crying, that much he could tell, her face was red and her eyes were puffy, her hair was a mess, he felt like he wanted to do something about it but wasn't sure what.

She blinked up at him and realised he looked different, he had leather trousers but without the armour plating, his claws had disappeared, turning back into hands again and his mask was missing. He wore a black shirt with a very high, pointed collar that was pulled up and unbuttoned a little. He still had the larger build and cat's ears as well as what looked like a very real, black tail but his eyes were green again, though his pupils were still slits like a cats.

"Are you ready to behave?" When he opened his mouth she saw he still had the cats fangs but his voice was the voice of Adrien,

"Why… why do you look like that?" She stuttered,

"You mean the ears and the tail or do you mean the outfit?"

"…all of it", she asked, in little more than a whisper.

"I told you before, I fused with my Kwami, he's a part of me now and I felt like… powering down", he explained.

 _He can power down? Good, maybe that means he's using less power and the Akuma isn't poisoning him as fast_ , Marinette thought.

"Now, I'll ask again, if I let you out of here, will you try to escape again or will you behave?" He asked, crouching down to meet her gaze,

"I'll behave", Marinette nodded, "what is this place?"

"It's a vault, for storing valuables", he replied in an uninterested tone, "but it's just as good at keeping people in as it is at keeping them out… I doubt even Ladybug could get you out of here".

"But… you will?" She tried not to sound like she was expecting too much, she didn't want to put him off the idea,

"I will, but you must promise me you will not try to escape", he instructed,

"I promise", she replied.

He nodded and removed a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, she pulled herself up unsteadily but was overcome with dizziness as soon as she stood and almost fell again, he ran inside and caught her in his arms and carried her from the cell. Once at the bottom of the ladder he bent his knees and jumped, flying up and out, onto his feet at the top, still holding her, if she didn't feel so sick and dizzy she'd probably have been impressed.

"What are you planning to do with me?" She asked but he didn't reply, he just climbed the stairs and deposited her back in Nathalie's room.

She looked around and noticed everything but the bed she was lying on had been removed, he'd boarded the higher windows and she had a single blanket to sleep beneath, no sheets or pillow covers. There were tealights on the floor at the edge of the walls, casting an eerie upward glow.

"Aren't you worried to let me have fire?" She asked,

"No", he smiled, "I'm far too fast for you to cause me any harm, the only person you could kill would be yourself".

"I could never hurt you, not really", she whispered,

"If you cannot open your mouth without lying you should try being silent instead",

They looked at each other for a moment, she'd have given anything to know what he was thinking, she needed to know what he had done with her bag, she needed Tiki in case a transformation was necessary.

"Are you hungry?" He asked eventually,

"I am, though I'm more thirsty than hungry", she replied,

"Then I'll get you something to eat and drink", he opened the door to leave.

"Adrien?"

Panthere paused and spoke without turning, "what do you want?"

"Why are you being kind to me? You said you wanted to punish me…"

"Do you miss the vault?" He looked up at her with a cold gaze,

"No",

"Then enjoy the comfort… while you can".

With that he left the room and locked the door behind him.


	14. Chapter 14

Marinette lay back on the bed and watched the long shadows against the slightly wavy lines of candle light, laying side by side against the walls, she'd never had guessed that something as simple as 'light' could bring her so much peace.

She'd been afraid that she'd misjudged things when Panthere had thrown her in that vault, that Adrien had really been taken over entirely and there was nothing left for her to save, but then he came back for her, she couldn't imagine why he would bother to make her comfortable, much less to keep her alive, unless a part of him cared about what happened to her and right now, believing that was all she had.

Suddenly Marinette heard a noise, she looked up expectantly, surely, he hadn't returned so quickly? But then again, he did have super speed.

"Marinette!" came the small and unmistakable voice of her Kwami.

"Tiki, you escaped!" Exclaimed Marinette, holding out her hands as the Kwami fluttered over to them and landed.

"Best to speak quietly", Tiki warned, "he's got very good hearing and seems a little… paranoid".

"How do you mean?" Asked Marinette,

"I don't know how to tell you this Marinette, but the Akuma's having a very bad effect on Chat, he's been keeping your bag in his room with him, luckily he didn't bother to look inside or I'd have been toast, but I heard him, talking to himself",

"Talking… in a particularly crazy way I'm guessing?" Asked Marinette,

"Yes, though it's only one half of the conversation, at this point I don't know if he's hearing a voice in his head because he's going insane or if it's the Akuma its self",

"The Akuma could talk to him?"

"Maybe, they're infused with the dark will of Hawkmoth and he uses them to control the victim but… I can't imagine this is Hawkmoth's plan", Tiki said, looking thoughtful,

"What do you mean? I'm confused, start at the beginning",

"Basically, Hawkmoth controls the Akuma and the Akuma controls Chat but if Hawkmoth were controlling the Akuma that ring would be with Hawkmoth and Chat would be… well, plain old Adrien. Hawkmoth's only goal has ever been the Miraculous of Destruction and the Miraculous of creation so that he could join them together to form the ultimate power… doesn't it seem odd that Chat was allowed to keep his Miraculous?"

"So, you think Hawkmoth isn't in control?" Asked Marinette,

"I think something has happened to Hawkmoth, I don't know what or how, but I think Hawkmoth has somehow lost control",

"Which would mean that The Akuma is controlling Adrien… and no one is controlling the Akuma?"

"Correct",

"So, what would the Akuma want?" Queried Marinette,

"They don't really want anything, they're infused with darkness by Hawkmoth, they're drive is just all of the negative feelings of the person, all the pain and the loss… if it is talking to him, I don't imagine it has anything very nice to say and Adrien won't be able to resist it for very long", replied Tiki with a worried look on her face.

"So how do I reason with a person who's Akuma is possibly in an indestructible object, who's too fast for me to get it anyway and has something evil telling him what to do?"

"I think we'd need a different approach", squeaked Tiki, "the voices would be manipulating him by saying all of the horrible things that he's most afraid are true, I think a lot of Adrien's sadness comes from his relationship with his father and his loneliness, if only we could prove to him that his father actually loves him".

"I can't even prove to him that _I_ actually love him, he doesn't trust a single word I say", sighed Marinette,

"Well… there have been a lot of lies", shrugged Tiki.

"But Tiki, I've never lied to him because I wanted to, it's always been because of my identity or because of Lila or whatever else has come up, it's always been about protecting him",

"Maybe we should have let him decide what's best for him… a lie is still a lie",

There was a noise in the hall way, they both looked startled and then Tiki flew behind the bed as fast as she could, the sound of the key turned in the lock and the door swung open.

"Adrien", said Marinette, trying her best to smile,

"I am not Adrien", he replied, stepping into the room with a tray of food and heading over to her.

"You are Adrien", she said as he took a seat on the edge of the bed beside her.

"If it pleases you to believe that it makes no difference to me", he put down the tray without looking at her, it had pastries, a bowl of red fruits and a banana as well as a bottle of water.

"Please", said Marinette, her resolve breaking, with his voice back to normal and his mask gone, she could hardly contain how much she just wanted to hold him and make everything right again.

She put her hand on his face, turning him to look her in the eyes, he looked surprised, perhaps he thought she'd be too afraid of him to be so forward.

"Adrien", she said again, "Chaton…", she leaned forward a little, she wanted to kiss him, to be close to him, to just feel him against her and know he wasn't suffering anymore, he leaned in a little too, her eyes were watering and he stared almost confused for a moment.

He blinked and seemed to be refocusing before speaking, "Mari?"

"Yes?" She replied,

"Marinette", he started to smile a little, a flash of what looked like relief… realisation? She wasn't sure but it was gone before she could think of it, he turned away sharply and jumped up from the bed, he looked annoyed.

"Stop it!" He commanded,

"Stop what?" She asked, bewildered.

"You are a pretender", she replied but almost to himself, like he was in need of reminding, "A liar, you cannot be trusted, everything you say is a manipulation!"

"Chat, it's not true!" She shouted, "I love you!"

"STOP IT!" His voice was not his own when he spoke, it was the deep, cruel tones of Panthere and as he roared his entire being was consumed in purple and black flames and he was Panthere once more with his razorsharp claws, mask and armoured suit.

He had appeared beside the bed in a second, murder in his eyes, his hand lifted high as though he was about to strike her and Marinette screamed but the sound of it seemed to stop him and he disappeared from the room, slamming the door behind him.

She sat alone, her heart hammering in her chest, what had just happened?

"Marinette?" Said Tiki, wizzing back out from behind the bed and landing on Marinette's shoulder and hugging her, "I thought he was going to hurt you!"

"So did I", confessed Marinette, panting a little from the shock, "something happened, it was like Adrien was there again, I saw it but then he forced it back down",

"Are you sure you're not letting yourself believe what you want to believe?" Asked Tiki, "he looked like he wanted to kill you!"

"No, it was him, I know it was, he's trapped in there somewhere, underneath the power of the Akuma… I need to get out of here", she said, jumping off the bed, "I need to find a way to get to him again".

"Marinette, you promised him you wouldn't leave, I heard him talking about it, if you leave, you'll have just lied to him again",

"I can't save him locked up in this room!" Argued Marinette, "come on Tiki, you must have some idea of how to get out of here without having to activate my powers, we just need a plan".

"I'm not sure we do", said Tiki, "he left in such a hurry… he didn't lock the door".


	15. Chapter 15

Marinette stood at the door for a moment, she put her hand on it and thought of trying but then removed it, what if he was waiting behind it? What if it was a trick?

She walked back over to the bed and sat down, taking a swig of water and eating a couple of strawberries.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Asked Tiki, "have you changed your mind?"

"No… I was just preparing myself for if he's outside that door when I open it, I'm not going back to that vault without having had a drink".

"Oh, Marinette, I don't like this at all, you should just transform into Ladybug, get far away from here and we'll organise a plan from there", begged Tiki,

Marinette held out her hands for the Kwami to land in again and gave her a smile mixed with sadness,

"Chat Noir was willing to die to save me", she said, "seconds and he'd have been crushed beneath a pile of rubble, all because he wanted to keep me safe… I can't leave him Tiki".

With that Marinette placed the Kwami on the soft bed and stood up, heading for the door, she slowly turned the handle and held her breath as she opened it. The hall way outside was dark and empty, Marinette sighed as gently as she could so as not to make any noise and stepped out of her prison.

She needed to find something to help her prove to Adrien that his father cared about him, or perhaps a clue as to Adrien's next move. She headed to the stairs and let out a sigh when she realised the body had been removed, as her eyes adjusted to the dark it became easier to move a little quicker without making too much noise and she made her way to the bottom, trying to blank out the memory of the man Panthere had left lying there.

"Marinette!" Whispered Tiki, "I can hear voices",

"Me too", whispered Marinette, turning and looking into the dining room, there was no one there, perhaps it was a TV? She followed the sound through the dining room and into a drawing room beyond, there was a book case slightly ajar casting a dim green light through the gap.

"A secret door?" She said, walking toward it,

"Careful Marinette, Chat could be in there", warned Tiki.

Marinette peered in through the gap, it looked like some kind of security station, there were tv screens above a console and a leather desk chair, empty of any kind of staff.

Carefully, she moved into the room, checking it was completely empty before looking at the screens, it was footage from every security camera in the house, she couldn't see much in most of the rooms because of the light but there was one screen that showed a white room and there were four men in it. One of them was shouting, two of them were sat on the ground looking bored, the fourth was pacing, kicking the walls, he looked furious.

"What is this?" Said Marinette,

"Looks like some kind of panic room", offered Tiki,

"If I can hear them… can they hear me?" Wondered Marinette aloud,

"There's a microphone and a button, maybe it's the intercom?" Suggested Tiki,

Marinette pressed the button and spoke,

"Hello?"

The men in the room all froze and looked around, startled.

"Hey! Who's there?" Shouted the first man,

"What should I say?" Marinette asked Tiki who shrugged,

"We don't even know who they are, do you recognise them as Adrien's staff?" Tiki queried,

"Look, we want out of here, just let us out and we promise, we won't hurt the kid!" The man shouted.

"Hurt the kid?" Said Marinette to Tiki, "that doesn't sound right",

"We don't care about what you did to our accomplice!" joined in man number two, "we're sorry!"

"Tell me what happened", came the calm voice of Marinette over the intercom.

"We already told that Panther guy!" Shouted the fourth man, still pacing and sounding irate,

"Well I want to hear it for myself", Marinette replied.

"Why should we tell you anything?" Asked the third man from the floor,

"You'd rather deal with Panthere Noir? Fine, I'll go get him", she bluffed,

"No! No, it's okay lady, we'll tell you!" Shouted man number one.

"Start from the top", Marinette commanded,

"We managed to get a member of our team a job on the inside of this place, we were gonna ransom the kid, his dad's a bigtime designer, but we weren't gonna hurt him, just get the cash then drop him off some place, we just wanted money!" The man explained,

"They're criminals!" Marinette exclaimed,

"I wasn't expecting that", squeaked Tiki,

"Carry on", pushed Marinette, over the intercom.

"Our friend let us in, we cut the lights and went to the kid's room, he wasn't there, we got the woman who takes care of him but she wouldn't tell us anything, next thing you know this… thing comes in, our friend tried to get tough, put a gun to the lady's head and next thing… he's got a hole right through his middle!"

"Oh my god", Marinette gasped, "You know what this means? He was protecting Nathalie!" she looked at Tiki, her eyes wide, "he didn't kill someone in cold blood, he was trying to save a life!"

"Murder's still murder, Marinette", Tiki replied.

"We're not like him though!" The man continued, "he got stupid, we don't wanna hurt anyone, we just wanna get out of here and go home!"

"I'll see what I can do", Marinette said back.

"What could you do?" Tiki asked,

"Nothing but I don't want them shouting even louder if I just disappear or upset them, I had to say something", Marinette answered, "I want to check that weird attic room",

"The place you saved Adrien's dad?"

"Yeah, it was weird, the doors were broken down by Panthere but it was easy to see they were reinforced, what could he have been keeping so safe up there?"

"Maybe he hid when the criminals broke in?" Tiki suggested,

"Another panic room? Kind of up and out of the way don't you think?"

"How would you get up there anyway? The lift's broken, you won't be able to do it without becoming Ladybug",

"You're probably right, we can have a look on our way to Gabriel Agreste's bedroom though, let's go".

Marinette headed back up the stair case, her eyes dashing about frantically for any sign of Panthere but all seemed quiet, maybe he'd gone out to calm down… which wouldn't necessarily be a good thing with his powers of destruction like they were.

She peered into the lift and looked around, it was definitely broken, and the roof was still missing, there was no way she could climb up. She turned around to look elsewhere and hit the leather clad chest of Panthere Noir, his orange eyes beaming down at her menacingly.

"Hello Marinette", he said in the voice that scared her,

"Chat", she replied, "… I'm sorry", she blurted out before she could think.

"Why are you sorry Marinette?"

"I promised to stay in my room", she replied, her voice was small and her chest was hammering.

"But I knew you wouldn't", he smiled,

"You did?"

"Of course, you're a liar, I know your promises are hollow, that is why I left the door unlocked",

"you did that on purpose?" She asked.

"I wanted to see where you ran to, you surprised me though, you didn't leave", he looked at her suspiciously, "what are you after Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"I wanted to find something… something to prove to you", she stuttered,

"To prove what?"

"That your father loves you".

Silence reigned for a moment, Panthere stared her in the eyes for what felt like an eternity and she did her best to stare back, worried averting her gaze would give his paranoid mind cause to distrust

"I cannot fathom the purpose of this lie", he eventually said, "is it some form of manipulation or just an attempt to escape punishment?"

"It's not a lie… I thought if you could see that he cared, you might realise what you believe… the terrible things you think about people, they're not true", she shot back,

"You think if I know I am loved that Adrien will be returned to you?" Panthere asked,

"Yes", Marinette confessed, looking down at her feet, "I just want him back",

"So you can more easily manipulate him?"

"NO!" Shouted Marinette, her temper rising, "I'm getting sick and tired of this, I love Adrien Agreste! You can lock me up or leave me in the dark or threaten me or hit my head against the wall, I WILL NOT LET YOU TAKE HIM!" She beat her fists against him, it was futile, it felt like hitting a brick wall, he didn't even flinch but as she felt the tears streaming down her face and continued to beat with all her might, her eyes screwed up in fury, she felt the softness of skin and hands wrapped about her wrists.

Her eyes shot open and she looked up into the green eyes of Adrien, well, it was Adrien if he were half a cat but it was much closer to the boy she knew, looking at him now he even seemed slightly smaller, like his built was back to its regular size.

"Adrien?" She tried,

"You're crying", he said, his voice was flat and he was still watching her curiously but the sound of his true voice was wonderful and it made her cry even more, pressing her face into his shoulder. She thought he'd push her back but he didn't resist, in fact as she moved to put her arms around him his grip slipped from her wrists to allow her and she even felt his own arms come around her, they seemed tentative at first but then tightened.

"Adrien, please come back, please, I love you, I don't know what to do without you", she sobbed, it was like all of the fear and stress and pain of everything that had happened just bubbled up inside of her and opened a flood gate she didn't even know was there.

She felt his head press into her shoulder and his hug tightened even more, she was afraid to let go, as if she secretly believed it was there embrace alone that would save him and if she released him he'd become Panthere once again.

"Marinette", he said, his voice sounded strained as he held her in that lift, like he was forcing it out, "Marinette, please don't cry",

"I can't help it, I don't know how to save you, I'm lost without you to help me", she cried back,

"How do I stop you from crying?" He asked,

"Come back to me, let yourself come back to me",

He pushed her slightly back as he looked her in the eyes, he felt so conflicted, he hated her, she was bad and she'd done just what he'd said she'd do, she's lied and left the room. But she was crying and wanted Adrien and it hurt to see her so sad and she was so very beautiful. He wanted to make it okay, he'd held her and tried to soothe her but that had just made him miss her even more.

"I can't change what I am, Marinette", he sounded almost pained,

"You are Adrien, please Chaton, I love you",

He dipped his head and pressed his lips to hers, it had shocked her but she didn't resist, she wanted him to feel her love for him, she wanted to kiss him and be close to him again.

"Ow!" She jumped back by reflex, holding her lip, his spiked, cat's teeth had cut her.

Adrien looked surprised and then it was like a dark cloud passed over him, he moved back and away from her, clenching his jaw.

"I can't change what I am", he repeated with resentment in his voice.

"Adrien, don't pull away from me, I love you, your father loves you!"

Adrien laughed bitterly,

"he loves me, does he? You're so desperate to prove how my father feels, let's go and see him", Adrien growled.

"At the hospital?" Asked Marinette,

"Yes, let's visit my dear father".


	16. Chapter 16

It had taken Panthere barely any time at all to arrive at the hospital with Marinette in his arms, his super speed had felt like being fired from a gun, and Marinette felt like she was going to throw up. He let her down and she swayed a little, her hand over her mouth.

Marinette looked up and sighed,

"It's morning", she said,

"Just", nodded Panthere,

"You'd better power down while we go inside", suggested Marinette,

"Why? What could they possibly do to stop me?" Asked Panthere,

"It'll save you from having to fight anyone", Marinette tried, "make things easier".

"Agreed", Panthere conceded, transforming back into his half Adrien, half Plagg form.

The pair entered the hospital, Marinette had been worried the first thing people would see was cat's ears and panic, but everyone was so busy with all of the destruction and chaos of the previous evening that no one even looked at them aside from a small child sat with her mother. She tugged her parents arm and pointed wildly at the pair but her mother was on the phone and waved a hand at the girl, signalling for her to wait.

Marinette approached the front desk,

"Hello, I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I was wondering if… if Mr Agreste was okay?"

"Let me look at my computer", replied the nurse, she took a moment staring at the screen and scrolling before she answered, "yes, his surgery was successful, though we weren't expecting visitors, it might be best to come back another time, he's had a very traumatic experience and his son is currently missing".

"But that's why we're here!" Marinette exclaimed, "his son's here with me",

The nurse looked shocked and turned to the boy stood to the side who'd approached with the girl, dressed all in black with bright green eyes and messy blonde hair, it was hard to mistake the good looks of Adrien Agreste, teen model.

"What's with the cat ears?" Asked the nurse,

"He's a huge Chat Noir fan", grinned Marinette, "cannot get him to take them off unless he's at a photoshoot, but I think Mr Agreste would want to see his son immediately, which room is he in?" she inquired so fast the nurse barely had time to process.

"Oh, yes, of course, erm, J21, third floor",

"Thankyou!" said Marinette as the pair disappeared around the corner and made their way to a lift.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Asked Adrien with a raised eyebrow, "do you think seeing my father will change anything?"

"Maybe… I mean, he just survived a near death experience, aren't you relieved he's alive? He was disembowelled!"

"By me", replied Adrien dryly,

"…well… we can address that later… you're not going to… you know?" She asked as the lift moved upward,

"Finish him off?" Asked Adrien, "I haven't decided".

Marinette gulped, she hoped she'd judged this correctly, they were in a hospital after all, the collapse of this building would be even more catastrophic than the last three.

The pair headed down the hall way toward the door of Mr Agreste, Adrien's expression was hard and impossible to read,

"Are you okay with seeing him?" Asked Marinette,

"It's you who wanted to come here", he replied,

"Adrien", Marinette took his hand and stopped him in his tracks, "I mean it… are you okay? There must be some pretty big stuff going on between you and your dad for you to have done what you did to him",

"I don't feel anything", he said after a moments silence,

"I think we both know that's a lie you tell yourself", replied Marinette, stepping closer to him and looking him in the eye, there was a sadness there, she wondered if it was sadness at having to see his father or regret at what he'd done. He looked like he was going to say something, she even felt his hand squeeze hers but then he pulled away before saying,

"I suppose you'd know about lies you tell yourself".

He continued toward the room, Marinette bit her tongue and followed behind but it was her who had to open the door, Adrien had frozen at the threshold.

As it swung inward Marinette stepped in, hoping if she got to Mr Agreste's side she'd be able to help if Adrien did anything but he simply walked in slowly behind her and stayed by the wall at the entrance, his arms folded over his chest.

"Mr Agreste?" Marinette tried, slowly his eyes flickered open and he looked blurrily up at her,

"Who are you"? He croaked,

"I'm Marinette, we've met before",

"Yes… you know my son…" he looked like he was thinking for a moment and then suddenly looked agitated, "Marinette, you have to find Ladybug!"

"Ladybug?" She asked,

"She has to save my son!" he continued, he'd grabbed onto her arm but his grip was weak.

"Don't worry Mr Agreste, he's okay", she said, trying to soothe him, "you need to try and be calm, I came to tell you he's safe",

"No, no he's not!" Gabriel said, tears beginning to stream down his face, "I did something terrible!"

Marinette looked up at Adrien, he was still by the wall but he'd unfolded his arms and was watching his father, his face looked curious.

"Whatever you did I'm sure we can fix it, Mr Agreste", replied Marinette,

"Only Ladybug can fix it, he's been Akumatized! I didn't know… I didn't mean to choose him", he began crying more, his voice breaking.

"What do you mean… choose him?" Asked Marinette, frowning,

"It's me", he wept, "when I lost her… when I lost her I thought I could fix it, but I didn't know he was Chat Noir!"

Marinette's eyes widened and she looked up at Adrien again who was watching his father with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"What did you do?" Asked Marinette,

"When I lost my wife… I had studied the Miraculouses, I knew that the powers of destruction and creation could be combined for the ultimate power… I could bring her back!"

"You know about the Miraculouses?"

"I used the power of Hawkmoth to try to steal them, I needed to get them from Chat Noir and Ladybug to save her!"

"Oh my god!" Exclaimed Marinette, "You're… you're Hawkmoth?"

"But I didn't know Chat Noir was Adrien and if we don't find a way to get the Akuma out of him, there's no turning back, they're not supposed to be used in the way I use them, it corrupts them and they in turn corrupt the person they infect, we must save him, he's all I have left!" Gabriel released her arm and lay back, panting, he looked as if he was exhausted and in pain, "I need to get out of this bed".

"Mr Agreste, you're too unwell", Marinette's voice was small, she wasn't sure what to say or think, had she just made things worse?

"No, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him, do you hear me? When I lost her, I swore to myself I wouldn't lose him too… I kept him trapped, locked up, stopped him from having a life… but I was so afraid, I can't keep him safe out there where I don't know where he is… he's so head strong and reckless… he's just like his mother".

"Mr Agreste, are you telling me that the Miraculouses combined have the power of resurrection?" Marinette asked,

"They have the power to do anything, they're the ultimate power, they're the raw force of the universe, ancient and eternal, resurrection isn't supposed to be what they're used for, it goes against the laws of nature, the consequences can be terrible but what could be worse that being without the love of your life, what could be worse than losing a mother? … I thought if I could just get a hold of them… but now not only have I failed her, but I've failed him as well… my son!"

At that moment, a nurse entered the room and looked at the distressed and crying man on the bed,

"Okay, you both need to leave, whatever's happening this is too much", she said, approaching his drip.

"Both?" Asked Gabriel, looking up to see Adrien, standing there, his eyes wide with shock.

"Adrien!" He cried out,

"Okay, let's get some rest", said the nurse, injecting morphine into his drip,

"NO, NO, no…no…no…", Mr Agrest's eyes closed and then there was silence.

Marinette and Adrien left the room quietly and stopped outside the door, she looked at him with worried eyes.

"My father… my father is Hawkmoth", he stuttered,

"It would seem so", replied Marinette awkwardly,

"And this whole time… he was trying to save my mother",

"Yes… because he loves you both… he wanted to save his family", Marinette could feel her heart breaking for Adrien. She'd never asked about his mother, to think Adrien had lost so much, been so alone and funnelled it all into hatred for his father, only to discover every moment of cruelty had been a misguided attempt to protect someone he loved.

"But I have the Miraculous of Destruction", Adrien continued, "and with them both… I can do what my father couldn't",

"What are you talking about, Adrien?" Marinette asked,

"I can fix everything… I can bring her back myself!" He looked slightly manic, his face full of revelation, his stance – ready to spring into action, she could almost see the cogs turning, the hope in his green eyes, he could be with his mother again.

"Adrien, you need to think this through, your father just said the consequences of doing something like that would be terrible, who knows what untold damage we could cause, unleashing the raw power of the universe and misusing it?" Marinette pleaded.

"I did not ask for your opinion Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

"Ladybug would never give you the power to cause harm to yourself or anyone else!"

"Ladybug will care that she can save someone I love, Ladybug is honest and kind! Ladybug is nothing like you, she'll understand, she'll help me!" He shouted back,

"And if she refuses?" Asked Marinette,

"Then I will have no choice but to take it from her",

"You'd have to kill Ladybug to take her Miraculous, Adrien",

"So be it", he said in the deep, menacing tone of Panthere before being engulfed in black and purple flame and turning back into his evil alter-ego, then disappearing so fast Marinette hardly had time to blink.


End file.
